Traces

The cultural significance of photography is to record a specific moment or event in time. In portraiture the image can also reveal something about the sitter, the photographer and those of us who view them. The images that are presented in the Traces portfolio are still lives that were collected from cemeteries throughout Italy. The original photographs could have been made to record a school portrait, a birthday, an engagement or occupation. The selected portraits reveal an emotional breadth and psychological intricacy in the sitter’s expression inviting the viewer to ponder their personal stories and the time in which they lived. Collectively the portraits span generations creating a sense of community and continuity. The pictures not only inform and remind us of the past but also let us see reflections of ourselves today. My fascination with the photographic portrait is that it presents itself as an exact representation but it is more an analogy for the self. The photographs explore the intimate relationship between memory and time which is a reoccurring theme throughout my work, past and present. Through re-contextualizing and deconstructing the images the subjects are isolated and removed from the normal sphere. In their transformation they are returned to the viewer as traces of themselves, a threshold between presence and absence…with time moving in one direction and memory in another.