An interesting project! Watching an interview by Francis Hodgson with Sally Mann about her book Hold Still a Memoir with Photographs I realise, again, that perhaps photographs do not speak for themselves.
It is evident that this is a book where the narrative gives meaning to the photographs. Many of them from family archives. Her literary narrative aims to bring the reader closer to the meanings she wishes to be taken from the images she presents.
Whilst my writing is not literary my take away is that the words surrounding images can ‘ground’ the observer in the meanings intended.
In this project I have to find a topic, subject or project that I might have empathy with, and, that I can write coherently about the distance that it displays between it and me. Its an odd idea, because don’t we as photographers intentionally attempt to explore a subject of interest and bring ourselves and our viewers closer to an understanding and knowledge of that subject, topic or project? So I could choose almost any project!
In the event a topic revealed itself after reading a fellow student’s learning log [Dodgson] as a possible aspect in my day to day dealings with my 95 year old mother.
Whilst the series is about the ‘distance between us’ it is obvious that we are close relatives, mother and daughter. I have used not only images and captions to provide understanding of that intentional interpretation but also the narrative text placing me the daughter in the third person to additionally distance myself from my relationship with my mother.
As always, I started at the end… how would I want the end product to look? For this mini project is just that! It requires a series of exploratory images in a context that conveys a meaning. Each two-page spread is comprised of photograph and narrative which are meant to be viewed together. Had I had the book made up commercially I would have gone for a ‘flat-lay’ product to achieve this. The Heyzine web-based application produced a ‘flat-lay’ flipbook that I can integrate into my blog.
Here are the images. They are in book form as I shall show the outcome to my Mother. This is the first, original book.
Click on the squared bracket top right (next to the bell) to expand the book to double pages as is intended.
When considering the distances between us there are many: health; mobility; age. All of these impact our relationship as the ‘distances’ are jarring on our relationship. As quoted in the course materials [1] “It is about the encounter between myself [the photographer] and the other; it’s not about the other.” This is particularly true in this case as my mother was an active collaborator in many of the photographs and as a result shared (to some extent) the meanings that were meant to be realised in them. When shown the book she giggled with ruefulness on the portrayal of her situation. However the distance between our situations did not seem to be part of her interpretation and understanding of the presentation.
Or perhaps it did. With a sigh she said “Oh to be young again”
Post script: I have now made changes to the flip book as a result of feedback I have received, you can see the feedback and the revised book of images here.
[1] Alexia Clorinda in conversation with Robert Bloomfield in Decolonising the Curriculum [online article] (2019). Quoted in the course materials.
Hodgson, Francis: A Webinar Interview, Nov 26, 2024 6:30 pm Sally Mann: Hold Still, A Memoir with Photographs
Dodgson ‘Exercise 9.1 – The Distance Between Us’ (2024) My Photography Journey, 8 September. Available at: https://spaces.oca.ac.uk/elinorjaynephotography/category/9-viewpoint/exercise-9-1-the-distance-between-us/ (Accessed: 28 November 2024).
