Ellie Krakow. Arm Armature

About

Arm Armature began as an obsession with armatures: the hidden structures used to display ancient fragments in museums, to hold subjects for long-exposure photography, to set broken bones with medical devices. Exploring the transitory space between absence and presence, Krakow’s work unveils the invisible support structures that elevate objects to cultural significance and quietly provide safety when we’re at our most vulnerable.

Krakow integrates photography and sculpture into “furniture-pedestals,” a translation of museum pedestals that suggest domestic vanities and have legs of their own. Her photography—also a process of embodiment and erasure—aestheticize the human arm, an appendage that becomes an object for supporting and being supported. By using studio photography—conventions used in both contemporary advertising and ancient sculpture documentation—and by employing museum display tactics, Krakow’s work reveals the posturing, transformation, and loss that armatures and display methods represent today.