Unknown Aspects proposes an inventory of the past in the form of twenty black and white photographs of scraps; remnants of objects and instruments isolated from their original function and presented as harbingers of memory. In this sequence of images, the depicted elements are assimilated into a new environment to preserve the history of the homes in which they were found and gathered, primarily homes destroyed and vacated due to hurricanes. Azoulay’s repositioning gaze encapsulates the paradox between the original context of the found objects and their ability to exist independently and become elevated to the level of representation. Employing aesthetic mechanisms that activate the inanimate, Azoulay’s miniature installations fluctuate between the foreign and the intimate, and between states of preservation and loss, and as such, shed light on the nature of recollection, revealing alternatives for its reassembly.
Unknown Aspects was conceived and completed in 2008, as part of Ilit Azoulay’s participation in the Art Farm residency program in Nebraska, USA.