It's fermenting!

I line up jars colored with salted vegetables against the wall in our new studio. I photograph these pictures as still lifes. But this nature is not dead. It's not even silent. Psss‘ and ’tististis’ sound from time to time... the air coming out of fermenting jars. A micro-world of bacteria is celebrating. Its inhabitants eat the vegetable sugars and transform them into lactic acid, when the right conditions are present. My task - to ensure that these conditions are met. I watch over the alignment of the trajectories of these stars... salt, sugar, oxygen, temperature. Like a conductor, I lead, but I'm not all-powerful. The alchemical mystery has its part to play in the transformation once the jar is closed.

In front of this wall of vibrant colors, a calm joy fills me, energizing me. I'm carried away by the simple beauty of these vegetables behind their glass. I laugh at my own enthusiasm. This work reminds me that I am simply human, feet on the ground, head in the air.

-M