Greatly influenced by literature, Anna Ayeroff’s artwork explores ideas of utopia and perfect place. Ayeroff uses photography, film, sculpture and drawing to create objects that guide her on her path to finding utopia. She is interested in the links between number theory and the sacred, outer space and spirituality, architecture and alchemy. Her efforts in finding/designing/imagining a perfect world, lead her to a process often involving repetitive, labor-intensive methods of making. Her work involves: pulling prints on a lithography press for hours, hand processing film with concoctions of instant coffee and vitamin C, stacking and adhering delicate crystals to each other and carefully hand cutting detailed geometric shapes from a photographic print. This cyclical labor reflects the unending process of her fellow utopians, continually searching for, and working to create, a better world.
Ayeroff’s interest in photography and filmmaking speaks to the contrast between the simpler times of early American utopian thought and its forward looking nature. She often uses the play between digital and analog, original and reproduction, as underlying themes in her work, embracing the use of Super 8, 35mm and 120mm film, and then scanning, manipulating, and printing digitally.
Additionally, Ayeroff is a teaching artist and runs an art workshop space out of her studio. She considers teaching to be part of her practice, hoping her efforts might influence/create/find a better future.