Carol Wax

This dramatically lit image of an old-fashioned sewing machine has the intensity of a portrait, a popular subject for mezzotints. The print’s lighting and attention to surface also reveal the influence of Dutch still-life and Baroque paintings. “To me, ordinary objects seem extraordinary,” writes Wax, whose evocative depictions of

discarded things fulfill her stated aim to “infuse the inanimate with anima.”

Through her choice of subject matter and her adoption of a traditional, time-consuming technique, the artist critiques the consumerist cycle of our wasteful society, where mass-produced machines are swiftly relegated to obsolescence.