The Photographer's Showcase is pleased to introduce a portfolio from Jon Naiman: Familiar Territory
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| Jon Naiman -- Familiar Territory, #121, 2008 |
In his series
Familiar Territory, Jon Naiman collapses our perception of the human/animal relationship by photographing traditional barnyard animals in the homes of the people who keep them. Goats stand on wooden floors, horses in living rooms, a pig on a couch. This juxtaposition creates an immediate sense of whimsy, yet the scenes are never so strange as to seem outlandish. With the atmosphere of the frequently wood paneled Swiss interiors, the simple addition of a farm animal alters the context of the images and lends an almost magical, story book feel, presenting an alternate reality in which the animal presence in the room is as typical as that of the humans. This naturalness is partially achieved by the ordinariness of the humans -- they are posed, but look as if they have simply turned away from what they were doing and gathered in the room for the picture. Books and magazines lay open, television sets are on, coffee cups sit on tables. The animals in the rooms are just other members of the family. If there's an odd one out in these images, it's the viewer, gazing in while both animals and humans gaze out with a preemptive penetrating stare, seemingly as aware of the viewer as we are of them.
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| Jon Naiman -- Familiar Territory, 141, 2009 |
View Jon Naiman's portfolio Familiar Territory on the Photographer's Showcase
For more information on Naiman's work, please contact photo-eye Gallery Associate Director Anne Kelly by
email or by calling the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202
