At first glance, it’s a group posing for a photograph, but scrutiny reveals a group of vampires actively pursuing what they do best. Then you realize that Jeff Wall’s photograph Vampires’ Picnic (1991) is political satire, an allusion to Karl Marx’s belief that capitalists live by sucking the working classes’ blood. The ostensible menu is fresh human blood, but Wall intends it as a metaphor for greed, selfishness, and the vulgarity of a capitalist society.
Jeff Wall. Detail. Vampires’ Picnic (1991,
Featured Image: Jeff Wall. Vampires’ Picnic (1991), Cibachrome transparency in fluorescent lightbox. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa