Between Two Solitudes, 2019

Though her subjects are nonhuman, Diane Severin Nguyen’s messy, visceral photographs elicit an ambiguous biology that is simultaneously erotic and repellent. In her highly orchestrated studio process, Nguyen arranges precarious constructions of natural and synthetic found objects like fruit, toenail clippings, and latex gloves; illuminates them with an iPhone flash or other atypical light source; burns, melts, or subjects them to other chemical processes; and finally photographs the fleeting moments in which these constructions undergo irreversible transformations. The resulting images often nearly (but not quite) depict a recognizable thing. This in-betweenness, combined with the photos’ distinctly wet, coagulating, and abject qualities, serves as a reminder of the human body’s own instability and subjection to change through development, contagion, and decay. Though created in 2019 and 2020, these photos were first exhibited in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, a context that underscores the fears and realities of the contamination and decomposition that they suggest.