Still Life: The Still World of Mary Ellen Bartley
© Mary Ellen Bartley, April 13, 2020.
By Summer Myatt
Decidedly lacking a sense of movement, humanness, or inner complexity, the still life photograph exists as somewhat of a paradox. Most often depicting inanimate objects or common household items – fruit bowls, flowers, rocks, or vases – still lifes are known for their minimalism, tableaux, deliberate composition, and more explicitly, stillness. However, the term itself, “still life,” implies that perhaps outside of the parameters of the photograph, the objects themselves might spring into action; as if these lifeless subjects patiently posed in their specific places during the capturing of the photo, eager to return to their various duties once the shutter snapped.
Mary Ellen Bartley, New York based contemporary still life photographer, possesses this exceptional ability to permeate otherwise tranquil images with urgency, emotion, character, and story. Often choosing books as her subject matter, Bartley is capable of capturing rich, varied textures and colors; her simple yet honed awareness of structure across her work evokes an enthralling sense of pleasure and satisfaction within the viewer.
© Mary Ellen Bartley, April 18, 2020.
In her latest project, a series titled 7 Things Again and Again, Bartley has chosen, at random, seven commonplace items from her home that she felt represented her time during quarantine: toilet paper, a half-full bottle of rubbing alcohol, a notebook, a mug, a ceramic bowl, a muted yellow bar of soap, and a glass cube. The photographer arranged these specific objects in different ways every day, exploring scenarios that on the surface, appeared mundane, but revealed themselves to be teeming with personality and poignant, sometimes humorous commentary.
In her image titled April 2, 2020, the white notebook serves as a sort of set piece for the photo – a dividing structure that creates dramatic shadows and definitively separates the space into two distinct sectors: light and dark. The objects that stand in the shadow of the book’s cover appear to be huddled, as if in fear of what may lie on the other side of the makeshift wall. The gently perceptible sense of each object’s unique temperament is emphasized by the juxtaposition of jutting shadows and softly diffused light, creating a tableau that looks as if it could be a scene from a play.
© Mary Ellen Bartley, April 2, 2020
Through her exploration of the same seven items, Bartley’s process gradually reveals itself with each different setting, her playfulness and curiosity manifesting in clever uses of each object’s inherent function; in one image, a page from the notebook serves as a scrim, throwing the objects behind it into a soft silhouette; in another scene, the toilet paper is removed from its roll and bunched atop the open notebook, mimicking the curves, color, and shape of the book’s pages.
Bartley’s investigation of theme and variation continues further in her manipulation of the photograph itself. The structures she composes with her objects take on a more architectural context through the cutting and splicing of two photos, or the physical ripping and rearranging of a singular print. By severing and displacing easily recognizable items, the separate parts themselves become alien and new, contributing to what seems to be a skyscraper or an abstract sculpture.
© Mary Ellen Bartley, April 29, 2020.
The connecting thread through all of Mary Ellen Bartley’s work is a sense of ease and nostalgia, and an impeccable eye for color and composition; her latest series, 7 Things Again and Again is a vibrant, timely, and relevant continuation of her captivating still life work.
