This work is taken from the series “Habitats” which Devlin began in 1985. One’s gaze falls on a dark space transfigured by water, exotic vegetation and a dwarf hippopotamus sheltering therein. What first appears to be a natural refugium proves, on closer examination, to be an artificial, far too confining habitat sharply intersected by a glass wall where the creature dwells. The photograph, taken at the Berlin Zoo, is both intriguing and disconcerting.
Lucinda Devlin (*1947 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA)
The American artist Lucinda Devlin captures in her photographs, often square in format, interior spaces shaped and molded by society. In factual photo series she holds fast for the viewer deserted spaces: amusement parks, spas, solariums, agrarian landscapes, treatment rooms, execution chambers. The exacting pictorial language of these silenced places allows one to intuit the customs, values and rules of the societies which have formed them. Her photographic works can be seen in numerous international collections including the Guggenheim Museum in New York City and the Bibliothèque National in Paris.
