“Eminent Domain No. 5,” by Emma Wilcox, via Women in Photography.

These photographs by Emma Wilcox are wonderful. The clean and high contrast black and white aesthetic sets off the surrealism of the content extremely well, and gives the photographs a timeless feeling that is (intentionally, I’m sure) ironic given what Wilcox is up to.

I’m also very taken with this bit of prose:

In forensics, the absence of something can signify its presence. As reported in the Times, the chemical stain left by a body’s amino acids will suppress plant growth for up to two years, allowing a kind of shadow to remain after the thing casting it is gone.

On maps, the edge of a place vanishes and reappears. So do tracks, roads and the original names of things. There are no indications as to actual habitation, climate, degree of violence or calm, or even whether the area is land or water.

The notion of aniconic representation is something that has interested me in photography from the start. It’s something that I’ve tried to implement effectively myself, though generally not with results like Wilcox’s.