Both the transcendental surrealism and the cinematic gaze of Joseph Cornell come to mind while looking at the work of Californian Kim Stringfellow. Like Cornell, she plays with absences. Each of the objects included in her photographic constructions -- corn kernels, ants, bottles of pollen, eyeballs -- replaces something that is too vast to be included inside the box's physical frame. Unlike him, Stringfellow's primary concerns are subjects centered around female mythology, identity and history. Stringfellow's "Sensual Shrines," as her work was titled in a recent publication, confronts both her own gender oppression and liberation. With formal elegance, an assemblage of classical and contemporary images transports the viewer into a world of imagination. Her chains of meanings endlessly create labyrinths full of space for dreams and fantasies despite her strong connection with the textual representation of women. This aesthetic basis allows her to locate and assemble the pieces of her own fragmented and concealed stories.

Berta Sichel is an artwriter and independent curator.