In my current body of work I am exploring the aging of the human mind through portraiture. I was drawn to the idea of capturing the personality of elderly people after visiting my grandma in the nursing home and seeing the different levels of age the residents embodied.
The human mind is always at work, but with age it often slows down. By comparing the mind to weather patterns I am encouraging the viewer to make connections between the two. Some minds are filled with density that makes it hard to function properly. The person is aware of their surroundings, and can function, but they are easily confused. Other minds are completely empty. The individuals sit all day staring into space. Even when the sky is clear it is still moving. I believe that no matter how cloudy or empty the mind things are still moving.
Memories are also an important element in the pairing of two images. I have found by visiting with elderly people that it is much easier for them to recall the past then current events in their life. Although still pertaining to weather patterns I have included some images with buildings in them. By using older buildings or the suggestion of structures that once thrived I hope to connect to memories of places that the people used earlier in their life.
The portraits were all captured at the Good Shepherd nursing home, with the permission of the residents. I experimented with the best location to photograph and found that the light in the dining room and the hall worked better than the resident’s rooms. Most of the landscapes were captured throughout Ashland with the exception of a few from my travels.
I have chosen to present this project in book format to preserve the memory aspect of the work. By keeping the images together both a portrait paired with a landscape as well as all the pairs together my goal is that the viewer relates to the ethereal dream-like quality of the elderly people’s thoughts.
2 comments:
very nicely done.
Cynthia (who is the foremost expert on statements at this school) told me that the most successful statements are short and sweet - meaning they get right to the point. I think you do that but maybe it's a little wordy.
see you Monday.
Laura,
I am so glad to see you put these thoughts down in words. I agree with Adam (and Cynthia) that the more to the point the better. You have some great concepts here and I will give you more specific feeback on ways to shorten it soon.
You mentioned the book format as a way to keep the images together. Think about the intimate nature of the book too. People have to pick it up and feel the pages - versus standing back from a piece on a wall. Books also have an interior and exterior - like the body/ mind reference you are making.
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