Caterina Maina

Red Dawn

Inspired by: Robert Adams, Bulldozed Slash Harvey Sadow, Fire and Flood/Sacred Sites

archival inkjet print from 4″ x 5″ color negative

28.5″ x 33.5″

2020

Combining abstraction and artificial lighting, I transform landscapes to produce feelings of uneasiness. I want the viewer to interact with the images and create their own responses to the environments I create. Through imagery and personal thoughts, I explore feelings of anxiety about the climate crisis and how we have detached ourselves from the underlying issue. This photograph, “Red Dawn”, simulates the act of burning in nature. Though it is a natural process environments go through, climate change has caused an imbalance within this system. Like Harvey Sadow’s “Fire and Flood/Sacred Sites,” I examine humans’ devastating impact on these cycles. I also relate my work to Robert Adam’s “Bulldozed Slash, Tillamook County, Oregon” by using developed woodland in my hometown of Rhode Island and reflecting on its environmental impact.

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Caterina Maina

Javo and Eldi on the Steps (edition 2/8)

archival inkjet print of 4×5 large format color negative

23″ x 27″

2020

‘Javo and Eldi on the Steps’ is an intimate, collaborative portrait capturing the essence of Javo and Eldi outside their home in Caleton Blanco, a town near Santiago De Cuba. Taken in January 2020 with a 4×5 large format view camera, this photograph showcases the nuanced details of their life and Cuban culture.

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Caterina Maina

Hairy Fruit

Inspired by: Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries

archival inkjet print from 4×5 large format color negative

16″ x 20″

2023

“Hairy Fruit” came about while thinking about how still lives of fruit have often been used to depict or suggest the female form, sensuality, and the reproductive system. Using the hair I shaved off my head two years prior, I wanted to connect it to body hair. As in Henry George Todd’s “Study of Strawberries,” the brown discoloration disrupts/questions the beauty of the strawberries, as does the hair in my image. I use food in connection with the female form, even though no form is present in my work, which evokes Justin Walker’s “Daddy Bruce”.

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