A Dying Generation, 2011
Black and white laser print
49 × 39 × 3 cm, framed
Edition of 5

A Dying Generation revisits the iconic first generation Los Angeles palm trees photographed by Ed RUSCHA in his seminal artist's book A Few Palm Trees (1971). Missika shoots them in the same deadpan, repetitious fashion, but in the 40 years that have elapsed between the two bodies of work, the palms have grown huge, and will soon dry out beneath the burning California sun. Through them Missika presents us a typology of urban biosphere as fragile and temporary as Bernd and Hilla BECHERS industrial ruins. Looking at Missika's series, we get to thinking not only about how representations may outlive the things they represent, but also how, over time, all images rot down into the general mulch of our visual culture.