Priscilla Ferguson

The tomato in Priscilla Ferguson’s photograph is placed in careful consideration of the wood grain on the table. The tomato is a Mortgage Lifter, so named by the gardener who cross-bred this variety because he was able to pay off his mortgage with the sales made from his tomato crops. The formal beauty of the photograph, the dark and light tones with the shine reflecting on the skin of the tomato, recalls the formal study of Edward Weston’s Pepper #30 (1930). While Weston’s Pepper #30 brought to mind images of the human form, the bite from the tomato recalls the scene in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when the apple rolls from Snow White’s limp hand onto the floor. The origin of the bite, whether human or insect, creates an ambiguous photograph of a tomato and the question of what or who has eaten it.