Monday, November 17, 2008

destroyed photographs


there's something, i don't know what it is, about photographs that are intentionally destroyed in some way. i remember the first time i ever realized it was possible. i was young, around 9 or 10 years old, and i was looking through a photography book. this was just the time i was starting to grow up, to be creative, to look at things through a different lens. i saw a picture that looked like it had been saved out of a burning building, edges curled and details nearly buffed away. i saw the little caption saying that the photographer "beat up" her photo negatives. i was in shock--you're allowed to do that? completely changed my outlook on art, and photography.

i found this photographer on deviantart today, and it caught me. these photos feel like fragments of dreams, what you're trying to hold onto when you wake up. not clear but not gone, either. there but very not there at all. it's the coming and going aspect that i think makes me look twice, three times.

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