Fiona Hall Discussion

"Leaf Litter"

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In the Leaf Litter collection, Fiona Hall pairs a certain country's bank note with a leaf of a plant native to that same country, in an attempt to highlight the importance of the environment on the economy, and more importantly, how the environment is decaying, giving way to capitalism. Here, Hall uses gouache, a paint that consists of a pigment held suspended in water, and whose particles are larger. Importantly, an oil-based additive to the gouache makes the paint heavier and more opaque, lending it a better reflectivity. This is especially noticable in the delicate, X-ray-like quality of image of the leaf. A dark, possibly black gouache is used in contrast to the bright white, skeletal internal structure of the leaf. The bank notes are simply hardened and then painted over.

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