Other Mothers, more than my previous work, demands text as an accompaniment. Each relationship is a micro-story which an a photograph or a photographed projected image of a photograph cannot, by itself, tell.
My tutor Cemre was the first to suggest strongly that was the project in which text would strongly support the overall effort.
I plan for a form of dialogue between my other mothers and myself, because if they are micro-stories, they are indeed shared ones. In all but one case – Fiona – I have managed to have that dialogue.
I agree with Colin that the best solution might be a recorded audio dialogue to be played on viewing each image. With Covid, that has not been possible.
The second best solution is to work the text alongside the images.
But how?
I want as close a proximity between image as text as possible – and I’m not averse to such proximity being disrupting or interruptive of the images providing they do not lessen the impact of the images themselves, or interfere overly with the continuous belt and ‘belly buttons’ of each inner projected image.
My friend-colleague Becca came up with what I think I is a great possible solution involving opaque paper carrying the text between inserted between the images.
The Russian Artist Ilya Piganov has used something similar in her work Volume iii: The Piganovs, in which family text is overlaid onto family photographs, as did Zoopark in its limited run edition exploring the work of Czech photographers.
I think it could be an elegant way of combining the text with the underlying image simultaneously, hinting at memory whilst also allowing an element of discovery with the turn of a page. The plan is to create a maquette to see how the pairing works.
I’ve also found myself rephotographing some of the Other Mothers images which I was not convinced ‘fitted’ into the series. In the case of the Fiona image, this is a shame, as the initial colouring (a deep coral cast from a turned on street lamp to the left) delighted me. But it does not work with the rest. At first, I processed an image taken a little later on the same trip out after which the light had settled and then went out for a second shoot. I’m yet to decide which image fits best. I also intend to rephotograph my mother’s image at the tennis court because it stands out (thanks to Cemre for pointing this out) as the least ‘textured’ of the surfaces on which the images are projected.
References:
The Eye of Photography Magazine. (2013). Ilya Piganov: Volume III. The Piganovs. [online] Available at: https://loeildelaphotographie.com/en/ilya-piganov-volume-iii-the-piganovs/ [Accessed 18 Apr. 2021].
zooparkpublishing.com. (n.d.). Zoopark #2 Magazine – Zoopark Publishing Collective. [online] Available at: http://zooparkpublishing.com/Zoopark-2-Magazine [Accessed 18 Apr. 2021].
