Miri Segal

In Miri Segal's Still Life in Cucumber Season, the image of a woman caressing herself and then kissing her lover suggestively is projected onto a reflective surface in a darkened room such that the viewer encounters their own image in that of the woman – the space of the viewer and the space of the work collapse into one another. Desire, thus exposed, feels misplaced in the gallery where anyone could observe the viewer and become confused about which body is reflected and which projected, and whether they have transgressed into a private space or are still in “public".

The viewer is forced to exist on the same visual plane as the woman, yet she is also completely excluded from the romance she observes, resulting in a sense of betrayal. To challenge the body's ability to locate itself – even if this is done through fairly obvious mirror play – is to challenge the objective status of perception itself. If what we see is not strictly true, how do we measure truth?