Objects, Labor, & Identity: Grandma

Although this photo series differs a bit from work that I have made in the past there is one theme that is ever-present, references to the sense of touch. Working loosely with narrative, I tried to capture candid (with one exception) images that tell a biography of sorts. I also draw connections with line metaphor I've been working with and the visual theme of capturing and archiving gestures. I've chosen to desaturate the colors to unify the images and reference a not so distant past. This is a work in progress. I plan to incorporate sound and objects to expand the narrative.

Mentor Meeting One

Books
Monstrous Intimacies by Christina Sharpe
How to See a Work of Art in Total Darkness by Darby English
Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self by Brian Wallis
The Carolina Rice Kitchen by Karen Hess
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Artists
Willie Cole (specifically Ironing Board Print series)
Latoya Ruby Fraizer
Janet Cardiff
Marcus Coates (specifically Birdsong)
Simone Leigh
Moana Hatoum
Allora & Calzadilla (specifically Returning a Sound)
Andrea Buttner
Goshka Macuga

Things to Consider
Cooking and the qualities of food
Give yourself permission to be messy, What role could that play?
Shared experience
Trauma
Cookbooks and the idea of a meal
Mapping/Homesteads
Spend time with objects and determine what feels the most meaningful
Bookmaking can be a way to put all the elements together
Consider ways to represent objects other than photography
Research based Practice

Mapping Out the Semester: September

Now that I'm back home and in the studio I need to focus on the process of making quickly. I have a lot of time to make up.

• Continue daily writing and begin drawing exercises

• Begin sketching ideas/collecting installation materials

• Continue recording sounds and start recording new written narrations

• Continue photo work

• Decide where to print photos and which paper/printing process to use

• Experiment with sewing "quilted" photo collages

• Start thinking installation methods for photo

• Brainstorm methods for using the Sunprint cyanotypes I made in Georgia

• Think about how to use grandma's old encyclopedias. (collage, leaf pulp, casting, etc.)

• Pulp and dye 1 batch of paper for casting per week (I wasn't able to procure as many library cards as I had intended, so I should continue looking for a new source in Rhode Island)

• Make molds of new forms

• Cast 1 set of collard leaves per week

• Create at least 2 collages per week 

• Make 4 shell pieces

• Make 2 papier-mache sculptures

Stories in the Details: Grandma's House

While at my grandmother's house, I collected more images from her backyard. As with my mom's yard I focused on details that tell a story of place and time. However, unlike mom's house, I have a long history and deep connection to this place. There, each detail felt like a window into my parent's personalities and everyday life. Here, each detail also reveals something about my grandmother's lifestyle, but it is also steeped in memory, loss, personal history, and change. 

More Stories in the Details from Mom's House

Whether tending their garden, planting and maintaining their planting beds, or just taking their morning coffee on the deck, both of my parents spend a lot of time outdoors. Their yard is almost like a portrait of their lives. In it, one can discern their love of nature, evidence of a strong work ethic, a predilection for spending time together, and a fondness for keeping aquariums and collecting angels, among other things. One can also find mysteries and curiosities in the same place. This leads me to consider the significance of these details. They are fragments. Each with its own story that when assembled together tells an entirely different one. A story of people, place, home and the reciprocal relationship between woman/man and nature.

Reflections - Narrative & Sound

Already this semester has been a major turning point for my work. In addition to returning to the familiar medium of photography, I also plan to continue working with the more recent narration practice and to incorporate a completely new element; using sounds collected from various sources.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been collecting ambient sounds from specific places at various times of the day. I document the name of the place, as well as the date and time the recordings were made. I've also recorded interviews with my mother and grandmother. I consider these sounds, like the photographs I've been taking, raw material to work with once I return home.

Click video below to hear a recording sample of my grandmother's backyard on August 17, at 7:49 pm.

Here is a brief list of goals and ideas in regards to sound and narrative elements in my work:

• Research technical aspects of ambient and viewer initiated sound.
• Rosemarie Trockle and Lynda Benglis

• Continue writing, keep a commonplace book and daily reflectionnaire.

• Think about looping/overlapping narratives vs. voice/movement activated narration (presented as chapters).

• Continue to record writings and experiment with different methods of storytelling.

• Record interviews with family (perhaps people I meet during trip to Harris County).

• Do a lot reading, like, a lot. Academic/non-fiction and lift my self-initiated ban on fiction that I started at the beginning of the program.
• Consider reading a play or two

• Collect moving images for use in installation.

Stories in the Details

                                      

                                                   Walker Evans, Circus Signboard, 1936

                                 

                                                       Aaron Siskind, Tombstone 3, 1949

I was recently inspired by two photographs, Circus Signboard by Walker Evans and Tombstone 3 by Aaron Siskind. Although I've always been a fan of the narrative qualities of Evan's work, I was not aware of this particular series of wall images. Simple, yet profound in composition, this piece tells stories about people, place, and time, simultaneously. While Siskind may have been more concerned with formal abstraction, the resulting narrative is similar. I am fascinated with the idea of telling a story with a minimal amount of information, allowing the viewer to more actively engage in the storytelling process. It reminds me the what I love most about reading; using tools provided by the author to activate my own imagination.

When photographing my mother's backyard, I kept these two images in mind. When deciding what to shoot, I asked myself what story I was trying to tell and which images would best serve as a catalyst for guiding the viewer into that story.