Book of the Dead 2001

Arsen Savadov made this image, Book of the Dead, using photography. The image is a record of something very staged, and very arresting. The arrangement of bodies and objects in a shared space constructs a way of seeing that disrupts any conventional reading. The subjects are emaciated, posed, and linked by a single chain, and yet the image is so compelling that it is difficult to turn away. I find my eye drawn to the old woman in the foreground. The surface of her skin is so pallid, in contrast to the floral print dress she wears. The darkness of the dress contrasts so strongly with the pale skin of the other figures. It reminds me of Nan Goldin’s images, in the way that it uses staging to make a kind of group portrait of people on the margins. It is this conversation between staging and raw experience that is so intriguing. Ultimately, art is a conversation, not a pronouncement.