Lotus L. Kang

Molt (Toronto-Chicago-Woodridge-New York-Los Angeles-)

2022–25

Tanned and unfixed film (continually sensitive), spherical magnets, cast aluminum kelp knot, and steel

On view MoMA, Floor 2, 212

In this installation Kang employs industrial-sized sheets of photographic film that she has left unfixed, such that they change in response to light and humidity. Likening these sheets to the human body, the artist refers to them as “skins” and to their ongoing transformation as “tanning.” Some carry traces of prior exposure in other locations (each indicated in the artwork’s title), while the remainder have not been previously exposed. The light-sensitive surfaces continually record their environments, serving as a metaphor for the self: “We are porous beings,” Kang remarks, “we are always in a state of becoming.”

Gallery label from

2025

Medium Tanned and unfixed film (continually sensitive), spherical magnets, cast aluminum kelp knot, and steel
Dimensions Dimensions variable
Credit Fund for The Twenty-First Century
Object number 129.2025
Department Photography

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Photogram

One of the earliest forms of photography, a photogram is a photograph produced without a camera, typically by placing an object directly onto a light-sensitive surface and exposing it to light.

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