33 – Anastasia Samoylova

United States / Russia (1984)

Breakfasts

As the saying goes, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and perhaps the most personal. Anastasia Samoylova chose this moment to look at books by her preferred photographers. This Russian-American artist laid these publications open on her table and then arranged the ingredients of her meal on the iconic 20th-century photographs. With her Breakfasts project, Anastasia Samoylova concocts visual conversations with photographers such as Stephen Shore, Cindy Sherman and Dora Maar.

These harmonious compositions act as a collage and show how images taken by her peers gradually construct our collective memory. Part ritual, part tribute, the artist’s work draws inspiration from these famous photographs, as she honours and absorbs them as creative fuel for the day ahead.