Knives (Sentiment)

Laser-cut ink-jet photograph, museum board, wood. Framed. (15 1/2 × 18 in, 39.4 × 45.7 cm)

The artist elongated the ‘T’ serifs from Adobe Caslon Bold, connecting them to the lowercase, presumably to strengthen the physical piece.

Working with text, photographic images, and found objects, mixed-media artist Missy Weimer explores the “making of meaning,” she writes. Influenced by her studies of critical theory, she manipulates familiar words and images in photographs, sculptures, and works on paper in an attempt to deconstruct these ubiquitous forms of communication and demonstrate how they both shape and are shaped by us. In a series of pieces composed of laser-cut photographs and paper, for example, she strings together such phrases as “Lies are always lies” and “Our tongues are knives. Are tongues our knives.” Such constructions showcase the ease with which meaning can shift depending upon how these phrases appear and are read. Ranging from personal to documentary, Weimer’s photographic projects suggest that even the most innocuous-seeming image reflects its maker’s point of view. — Artsy