(1945 - )
2000
Toned gelatin silver print
9 x 7 in. (22.9 x 17.8 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of the artist
2010.204
McMillan uses an x-ray machine as a camera to explore the internal structure of plants. The x-ray then serves as her negative. She tones the prints, which produces warm and cool shades and adds dimensionality. The fragility evoked by the flowers’ translucency, along with the medical associations of x-rays, recalls the meaning of flowers in Baroque still lifes: they are symbols of the fleeting nature of physical beauty and human life.