Elizabeth Moran | The Armory

When I saw Elizabeth Moran’s project ​“The Armory” for the first time, I hadn’t read anything about the work beforehand and didn’t know the context of the images that I was looking at. It ended up being an interesting way to experience her work.

One of the things that strikes me the most about this work is how strongly it conveys a sense of energy. I got the immediate impression of something took place here, it feels as if the air itself is weighted with this suggestion. And at the same time, these rooms are so bare and empty that it insinuates that whatever takes place there is interchangeable. The spaces are so highly staged and constructed that they feel oddly mechanical.

Call me naive, but I couldn’t figure out where these images were taken until I read the artist statement. However, once you do know, the odd little details that Moran catalogs take on new significance. The inclusions run the gamut of funny (random cow tchotchke placed on the edge of a kitchen counter), ironic (a copy of Carl Jung’s ​“The Undiscovered Self”), foreboding (fake animal carcass hanging from the ceiling), all the way to just plain confusing (balloons).

- Mia


View the series here.