Photographer Kimberly Witham is a self-professed “ironic formalist” whose work “induce[s] tension between presentation and subject matter.” Witham’s lens captures animals generally considered “neither beautiful nor precious.” Her subjects are taken before their time; Witham retrieves roadkill on her commute to work through New Jersey’s suburban sprawl and documents the untimely deaths of familiar animals.
In an interview with Ravishing Beasts, Witham explained what she does with the animals’ corpses after the lens cap is replaced. “The animals in my photographs are all buried in the woods in my backyard. I try to give them a respectful end.” In artist statements, Witham says she is attempting to “capture something lost” and expose the “inherent tension between humans and nature.”
Witham’s images juxtapose both the florid trappings of suburban womanhood and minimalist aesthetics with the remains of victims of engineered sprawl. Scroll on to view images culled from her Domestic Arrangements, Transcendence, and Deertown series. Visit the artist’s website here to see more.
