In Lismanis’s work the behind-the-scenes of image making takes centre stage. Echoing the global outreach of JCDecaux, the universal language of advertising is not denied but rather emphasized – various superficial props create glossy, sharp, eye-catching, photoshopped (!) images that refer to the architecture of the commercial stands and adverts themselves. Reflecting a more democratic digital society requires a horizontal spreading, where a dominant axis – in this case the representational truth/power of an image – is undermined, as is the pretence of a meaningful and totalizing image. Here, digital and analogue tools are merged and all of this appears in a flattened, confused space that engages with the chaos of digital photography (from slick advertising to your lunch on Instagram) and aims to undermine the illusions that images are so good at creating.
