Motel Mirage
© AlmaKarinaMotel Mirage is an ongoing series created by Claisse Tom (photographer) and Karina Rikun ( installation artist), working as a duo through the AlmaKarina studio.
“We wanted to reimagine these transient, utilitarian spaces and transform them into surreal still lifes. Born out of extensive travels through the American deserts, this project seeks to capture the essence of what we have seen and felt there. We embraced the interplay of confinement and vastness, transforming both motel rooms and desert landscapes into stages for ephemeral art, or capturing them raw.
Inside the motel rooms, the installations merged everyday objects with unexpected elements to evoke a sense of timelessness. These spaces, often transient and impersonal, became intimate and surreal, reflecting human presence and absence in equal measure. In the desert, we extended this approach, incorporating not only the natural elements of the landscape—sand, rocks, light, and shadow—but also human-made objects, often the same ones used in the motel rooms. These objects, symbols of human rituals around food, gathering, and beauty, stood in contrast to the raw desert environment.
The connection between these two spaces lies in the dialogue between humanity and its surroundings. In both the motel and the desert, we explored how human rituals—rooted in comfort, nourishment, and aesthetic pursuit—persist even in spaces that challenge or unsettle us. Through these installations, we invite reflection on the resilience of these rituals and the profound, often poetic, ways they shape our experience of place and self, even in the face of impermanence.
Motel Mirage is an exploration of holiness and beauty in unexpected places wether it be through the grandeur of desert landscapes, the austere intimacy of motel rooms, or the humble elegance of everyday objects—a fruit, a fork, a bunch of dry weeds. Each image seeks to reveal the sacred in the ordinary, inviting viewers to pause and reconsider the world around them.”
click to view the complete set of images in the archive
