My Mother the Doctor
Darya Diamond

   This November, Leiminspace is proud to present My Mother the Doctor, an exhibition of works by LA-based artist, Darya Diamond. The exhibit was open from Sunday, November 12, 2017 through December 13th, 2017. 

     

    Darya Diamond is an object-maker whose work spans a wide array of media including ceramics, rubber, and photography. In My Mother the Doctor, Diamond uses casting and photography to examine the power dynamics that exist within the medical apparatus.  The works presented in the show are united by a state of removal; xeroxed photos, soaps, and ochre yellow rubber castings are echoes of prior moments. Industrial supports and a sterile installation lure the space away from the context of art and into the context of medicine. The originals (pill boxes, calipers, plexors etc.) are tools for examination and treatment. Isolated from utility, their tawny casts point toward the dominant role of the observer. Bed pans and surgical head positioners underline the fragility of the patient. Subjects must surrender their bodies wholly to the authority of institutionalized medicine. Diamond's work captures the bizarre comfort that wiggles its way into this moment. My Mother the Doctor questions the innate human desire for obedience, submission and treatment as an agent of care and pleasure. Together, the works open up and coddle the tender communion that exists between practitioner and patient.