posted on 2023-05-25, 08:41authored byMacDonald, AL
For over three decades MacDonald has traversed the vanitas still life genre, with the aim of extending historical approaches by exploring the symbolic potential of objects within a contemporary cultural context. The photographic still life builds on the long history of vanitas imagery in art, and also brings with it the additional association of the photograph as memento mori. Photography has a unique connection with still life and death, due to its ability to arrest time and literally still life. Photographs also contain a realisation of loss by recording a past moment that no longer exists. They are a melancholic reminder of time’s inexorable passing. MacDonald draws on these associations to create elegiac metaphors for the ephemerality and mutability of existence. Children’s birthday parties focus heavily on sugar-laden treats. This led to MacDonald’s current project Sugar, in which she continues her exploration of childhood, consumption and mortality. Sugar first appeared as a symbol of luxury in 16C desert and confectionary still life paintings. No longer a luxury, sugar is ubiquitous in food and has been found to be addictive, with the toxic effects of high sugar consumption recently gaining wide media attention. It is an irony that we celebrate each birthday with sugary cakes and sweets that potentially hasten life's passing. Sugar highlights the excessive amount of sugar in children's diets today, which despite its adverse health effects, is still promoted as a reward or celebratory treat.