Worm

Kiki Smith has explored ideas of mortality, decay, and femininity through images of the body—usually her own. Here, she has dissected photographs of herself to create a worm-like figure, emerging below a body contorted into the fetal position and framed by a rectangle. Is the shape constricting or comforting her? The curled figure is a photographic negative, creating an unnatural glow that dissolves the face and hands—as though the body were decaying into light.