A Means to an End is the title of Patricia Driscoll’s photographic exhibition at Gallery MOMO in Johannesburg, running until 14 November 2011.
The work considers the abattoir, which is both a site of ordered organisation and a site of trauma for animals. Yet, the abattoir itself is just another workplace, where workers simply come to do another shift on another day.
Driscoll’s photographs investigate the contrasts in this “otherworldly” environment, which is most often kept from public view.
Blood, flesh, steam, water and fire are all part of the constant flow of things in the abattoir. Together with killing, processing, cleaning and packaging, this space can feel almost apocalyptic.
While Driscoll found it challenging to photograph the production line in the abattoir, she wanted to capture both the movement and the ambience of this industrial environment and reveal its dichotomies.
Driscoll explains: “As a photographer I have been interested in exploring the notion of temporality as it may relate to still photography and linking the perception of time with movement in space.”
