Spanish photographer Cristina de Middel’s intriguing series ‘Poly-Spam’ brings spam email to life by envisioning them as people.
de Middel started the project in 2009, which she said reflects the relationship between the developed and developing worlds.
“If you really want to understand what’s happening in the world, read just one spam. They’re perfectly designed to describe what they are, what we are, what they want and what we want in a very smart trick: They promise to save our soul and our bank account in just one click,” she said in an interview with Slate.
She went through the spam she received, choosing those where she could use her memories of people and places to craft visual narratives for their stories.
“I find this process amazing, you read letters and images come to your mind. How do I imagine this place after reading spam... how do I imagine a Russian widow, or an old palace in Moscow?”
While reading a letter from Africa, de Middel realized she didn’t know what a bank there looks like as she had never been to Africa. She traveled to Senegal to find out, and ended up shooting in a lawyer’s office as she felt it closely resembled a bank.
Check out some pictures below and view the whole series at her website.
[via Slate, images by Cristina de Middel]