Sarah Charlesworth was an important member of the Pictures Generation, a group of photographers in the 1970s and 80s concerned with the circulation of the image and its role in shaping the society we know. Using found images cut from their original sources, Charlesworth's removal of the original context interrogated the meaning of the image and how it can be used for different means in our modern culture. Untitled (Skull) is from a later series in which she photographed isolated objects instead of using pre-existing images. The objects varied from Buddha figurines to orchid flowers; all were primarily white and shown against a white background. In isolating each motif, Charlesworth offered a meditation on the symbolic significance of the images when lacking their typical surroundings.

Excerpt from

Chelsea Pierce, Soft Focus, Label copy [2012.55.3], 2018.

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  Watch an artist talk by Sara Charlesworth given at the Guggenheim Museum on May 4, 2010.