Matthew Hemminghaus

In my work, I construct miniature sets in my studio from found and seasonal objects and materials in which I place and photograph my free range chickens. The original idea was to document my flock and select the chickens which most represented the current genetics. I strive to have the most amount of variety in my flock is possible by getting new rooosters each year to put new traits into the chicks that I hatch each summer. The photo series can be seen as a documentation of the lineage that my flock takes over the years. The objects in which I use as the major components of the set are current in my life, so that I have a personal reference as to when the photograph was taken.