Laurie Frankel collects a variety of different rubbish and turns them into vanitas style still life images. She takes something that we usually would find gross and turns it into a fascinating piece of art.

“I wanted to be inspired by something that was not inspiring,” Frankel says. “I decided to take something of no value, something that’s just so ordinary, and add something beautiful to it.”

Analysis:

In this image, for example, Frankel has used a range of dirty rubbish from the large Tropicana bottle, to the chopped carrots on the foreground of the image. The Tropicana bottle is the focal point of the image; this is because it’s the biggest and item, therefore it captures the viewers eye. The bright colours of yellow and orange coming from the plastic bag and the carrots contrasts the dark background colours of the soil, and the brown paper bag. Frankel has used a black background and some sort of black sheet where the rubbish is sitting on. She has done this to accentuate the colours and shapes of the items.

My Response:

Taking inspiration from Laurie Frankel and Thriza Schaap, I aim to photograph still life plastics and rubbish, I will take these photos in the studio and experiment with different lights, backgrounds and angles.