Joanna Brieding at Ochi Projects

At Ochi Projects, a string of small photographs span the walls, arranged in a line as if to read them linearly like text. (The pictures are grouped into sets of one, two, or three, little sentences within a larger paragraph.) The imagery is evocative, pictorial, ephemeral — like small unseen moments that were secretly captured. In one set of images, a man’s bald head is seen emerging from a rippling pool of water. This is paired with an image of the spiraling tube of a pool vacuum, the end of which juts into an open hole near the edge of the pool. The two images tug on the same connective essence — there is the visual mirroring of circles and water in each — and the rest of the images in the exhibition continue this strand of moody connection building as you walk around the space. A boiling pot of milk on the stove next to an open mouth dripping with milk; a snow-covered mountain made with construction paper next to a blooming cloud formation. In contrast, the back gallery features a collection of vessels made by the artist, each a unique organic form, arranged on a long table. Lit incense and beeswax candles give the arrangement a ritual vibe while also eliciting a dinner party. Together, the organic vessels paired with the evocative photographs point to a kind of bodily intimacy. They make magic out of the small everyday moments — memories made while gathering with others — that we have all come to desperately miss.

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Photo: Johanna Breiding, “Playing Submarine” at Ochi Projects (installation view). Image courtesy of the artist and Ochi Projects.