Natures Mortes

In 19th-century France the cadavers of small birds cast in bronze used to be placed on the graves of still-born children as symbols of their nameless souls. Pesi Girsch does not require bronze to provide these souls with a refuge. At first glance her photos seem to show a child's absurd altars: deep-frozen, dead animals have been laid out, prepared and arranged for the camera -- the work of a child that has not yet come to understand death, whose unbroken stubbornness demands eternal life for all creatures."After their premature death in the real world, the animals are brought back to life in Pesi Girsch's photographs. These frozen bodies boast with all the vitality of the living. And the viewer? The viewer enjoys his identification with the chicks' body language and facial expressions until he is struck by the sobering reality of the terrible presence of death." Simcha ShirmanGirsch, Pesi is the author of 'Natures Mortes' with ISBN 9783934296091 and ISBN 3934296092.