You ring the bell on the basement apt but the door opens on the first floor. The screen door swings on a broken hinge, the front door patched where it seems to have been kicked in previously.
 

Photo of "GIRLS IN MY HOUSE" Installation by Jacqueline Verdugo for BFA

It’s dark in the house but a dim light peeks out of a crack above the basement door. You pull it open, & the sound of a muffled hi-fi  emanates, throbbing , pulsing upstairs at you.
 

GIRL SEVEN 9”x 12” Digital Print 2016 / Edition of 6

GIRL FOUR 9”x 12” Digital Print 2016 / Edition of 6

You feel the bass in your stomach, & lurch forward, the sound nearly sucking you down into its open mouth. A faint smell of bodies, of something old, unwashed, & primal is suddenly present.

GIRL FIVE 9”x 12” Digital Print 2016 / Edition of 6

GIRL ONE 9”x 12” Digital Print 2016 / Edition of 6

GIRL THREE 9”x 12” Digital Print 2016 / Edition of 6
 

You pull the door closed behind you & head down the stairs, the aroma creeps closer & grows thick. Sweat ripe with perfume, something burning — perhaps plastic.

GIRL SIX 9”x 12” Digital Print 2016 / Edition of 6

The walls of the stairwell are unfinished, & crawling with species unknown. This is the place where beauty is born. You brush past the string of beads in the doorway, push past a crushed velvet curtain, & you’re there at last. Welcome Home.

GIRL TWO 9”x 12” Digital Print 2016 / Edition of 6

"Both of us are avid lovers of 1970's nude magazines, so when we got together we began collecting all kinds of beautiful, strange and obscure issues.  Inspired by those we decided to create and environment that felt like those old photo spreads, with the saturated color from 35mm film/polaroids, and with deeply lush set elements that we designed per girl; and ever-changing retro set. From this the 'Girls in my House' series was created."

– Tafv Sampson & Nicholas Des Jardins

Shop artwork from Tafv Sampson & Nicholas Des Jardins HERE

Artwork Images ©2016 Tafv Sampson & Nicholas Des Jardins / Courtest of the Artists
Photo of Maria Candanoza @GLORY HOLE by Jacqueline Verdugo / Courtesy of BFA