Artist Statement
My large-scale photographs explore the imperiled natural world and the dynamic tension between the passage of time and the photographic medium. I construct elaborate tableaux and use increasingly fantastical imagery to investigate cycles of growth and decay, creation and destruction. While the final work is a photograph (or film), my methods often involve painting, sculpting—even gardening. My most recent project, Book of Miracles, began during the early months of the pandemic and has unfolded against a backdrop of political and environmental crises. It draws inspiration from the 16th-century Wunderzeichenbuch (Book of Miracles), an illustrated compendium of biblical, astronomical, and apocalyptic wonders and omens. I use paint, fire, and staged scenes to visualize events that seem to defy natural laws, creating images that reward slow looking and suggest that the miraculous may be hiding in plain sight. Photography often walks a thin line between fact and fiction; my work embraces this ambiguity, inviting viewers into an expanded sense of what is possible and real.
Tanya Marcuse Nº 4a Book of Miracles (Part I Kingdom) 62 x 124"