Leah Netsky
Leah Netsky uses photographs as a material to create larger works. Pairing images with other images, as well as digital or mechanical processes and products, she explores the growing interaction between animal and plant life, science, and technology. Netsky’s work has been exhibited nationally in Boston, Chicago, and New York, and has been published in the Boston Globe. Originally from Newton, MA, Netsky received her Master of Fine Arts Degree in Photography from the University of Arizona in Tucson in Spring 2020.
My work considers the growing interaction between animal and plant life, science and technology. I use physical and digital manipulation of subjects, such as lunch meat or flocks of birds, to explore the human drive to edit, define, and control the organic. Through fabricated scenes and objects, often containing digital or mechanical elements, I imagine the implications of human manipulation, interpretation, and replication of nature.
I have synesthesia, an involuntary merging of the senses. In my work, this inspires the use of unexpected juxtapositions to deconstruct accepted systems of classification and meaning. Many of my photographs depict absurd mergings of humans, plants, and technology that reflect strange personal associations, for example, roses with eyelashes. Aside from referencing potential glitches in the human brain or technological processing, these creations allude to the blurring boundaries between the organic and the manmade.
Stacks
Video, 3 min 39 sec
Zebra Fish
Digital Image in Photographic Light Box, 17”x22”
Tree Curlers
Digital Inkjet Print, 17”x22”
Cactus Balls
Digital Inkjet Print, 17”x22”
Bird Constellation
Digital Inkjet Print, 20”30”
Bird Sound Box
Laser Cut Baltic Birch and Sound, 17″ x 22″ x 3”