​Samantha Castrale

This series of images depicts discarded lighters that are taken out of their original context and presented in a new light. Interested in the transient nature of the object, I began collecting lighters in the fall of 2006, and have well over 2,300 thus far. Found in bushes, outside of clubs, and in parking lots, it was at the end of their journey in which I discovered them. It is an artifact of our environment with a history unknown to the viewer. Printed on such a grand scale, the prints reveal all of the details that would otherwise go unnoticed. Lighters, which are primarily used for cigarettes and drugs, things that destroy our bodies, the self-destructive behavior of human beings are reflected on the faces of these discarded and deformed objects.