Benjamin Lord
(United States of America 1972– )
- Title
- Humaliwo Chambers
- Year
- 2010
- Media category
- Photograph
- Materials used
- black laminated MDF stereoscopic stand with viewer made from metal, mirror and black plastic, three brown cardboard portfolios containing: 1. One colour offset lithograph printed on white concertina card and one beige card with printed explanation of project; 2. 12 colour offset lithographs printed on 12 white cards (1 image each card); 3. 12 colour offset lithographs printed on 12 white cards (1 image each card) and one brown card folder containing white card with colour image
- Dimensions
-
a - black laminated MDF stereoscopic stand with viewer; 30.2 x 31 x 33.4cm; stand
b - brown cardboard portfolio; 24.8 x 22.6cm; closed
b - brown cardboard portfolio; 43.2 x 57cm; open
c - colour offset lithograph printed on white concerti; 23.4 x 19.6cm; closed
c - colour offset lithograph printed on white concerti; 23.4 x 78.6cm; open
d - beige card with printed explanation of project; 23.5 x 19.7cm; card
e - brown cardboard portfolio; 24.8 x 21.1 x 1.3cm; closed
e - brown cardboard portfolio; 24.8 x 57cm; open
f-q - 12 colour offset lithographs printed on 12 white c; 23.4 x 19.7cm; each
r - brown cardboard portfolio; 24.8 x 21.1 x 1.3cm; closed
r - brown cardboard portfolio; 24.8 x 57cm; open
s-dd - 12 colour offset lithographs printed on 12 white c; 23.4 x 19.7cm; each
ee - brown card folder; 24.1 x 20.4cm; closed
ee - brown card folder; 24.1 x 40.7cm; open
ff - white card with colour image; 23.4 x 19.6cm; card
- Signature & date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Anonymous gift 2012
- Accession number
- 120.2012.a-ff
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
Benjamin Lord graduated from the University of Chicago and then obtained an MFA at UCLA 2002. He produces work in a range of media, including drawing, photography, sculpture and video.
His ‘Humaliwo Chambers’ project consists of three portfolios. The photographs depict a series of interconnected underground spaces, entered through a portal on a hillside in Malibu, California. The various rooms, passageways, and the objects found in them evoke conflicting European, Latin American and Native American forms and histories. (‘Humaliwo’ is the Chumash word from which Malibu is derived, and can be translated as ‘where the waves crash loudly.’) While drawing from the traditions of archaeological photography, the images are handcrafted in the artist's studio. This elaborate historical fiction is both a study of the complex and contradictory relationship between art and anthropology, and a meditation on 10,000 years of California history. One additional part of this work (iii.2d) depicts the commissioners Peter Norton and Gwen Adam at their home in NYC.
