Waterfall by Virginia Woods-Jack

Circa 1984 (print 2020) Limited Edition 1/5

Even as you watch I am fleeting is a collection of images which span decades. The title is modified from a sundial quote referencing the temporal and changing nature of all things, primarily time and light, which are cornerstones of the medium of photography itself. Raising children is an accumulation of moments of beauty, doubt, awe, fear, discovery, confusion and wonder. We feel these as we ourselves grow up and parenting can afford us the opportunity to look back on our own experiences of growing up. Whilst on a trip home to England I went through one of the remaining boxes I had there and found images and negatives I made when I was a teenager. It was then that I started to see a visual synchronicity between images I was making for Fleeting and images I had created in my own teen years decades earlier. In one of the essays in Lacuna Park, Nicholas Muellner talks about the photograph being a surface for feeling and that it is best understood across time as a way of engaging with the world, ourselves and others. Bringing these two bodies of work together, created decades apart resonated with his words on many levels. All art is created from a personal perspective to a greater or lesser degree, however my hope is that there is always enough space in my images to allow the viewer the opportunity to bring themselves into the work.

This quote from Rebecca Solnit’s brilliant book A Field Guide to Getting Lost sums it up really:

“Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.” 

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