Hardly More Than Ever (pdf)

Laura Letinsky: Hardly More Than Ever is the first catalogue of Laura Letinsky’s still life photographs. Despite the cloak of casual disregard shown to neglected foodstuffs and dirty dishes, Letinsky’s photos of the aftermaths of dinner parties and meal preparation are calculated constructions with clear roots in 17th Century Dutch still life painting. Art historian Hanneke Grootenboer’s essay looks at Letinsky’s revival of the genre and raises the question as to what exactly has remained not only from the party the night before, but of the grand tradition of still life. Letinsky’s pictures show the afterlife of the once blossoming genre of still life painting and the ways in which some of its features have survived after the invention of photography, or rather in photography.

Hardly More Than Ever also includes twenty short stories by Diane Williams, known for her “sudden fiction”. Williams’ stories and Letinsky’s photographs in no way have an illustrative relationship one to the other, but they share a sensitivitiy to detail and nuance in the realm of personal relationship and domestic life, and their juxtaposition complicates and enriches the reading of both.