Guido Mocafico: Medusa

In Greek mythology, the Medusa sees with such intensity that whatever crosses her gaze becomes petrified: her eye functions much like that of the photographer. The photographs in Guido Mocafico’s Medusa arrest a species beyond the norm: Where is the head? Where are the eyes? The sex? His subjects are jellyfish, and as a photographer working in the vocabulary and the colors of nature, Mocafico regards them as the creation of an unparalleled artist. His images of the creatures fall at the border of geometric abstraction, violently disconnected from the rest of the animal world, and they combine a vision of the unknown with a large dose of mystery and of fear, as these translucent invertebrates secrete a toxic substance that can, in certain cases, cause death. With just the right amount of distance, Mocafico offers a contemporary view of the demiurge, showing us that we live in a world of illusion. Medusa, originally only bound as part of the limited edition boxed set Venenum, is here available for the first time on its own.