Monday, February 22, 2010

2-22-10 Artist Post, Susan Worsham

Susan Worsham

Susan Worsham's series Some Fox Trails in Virginia is particularly relevant to the work I am developing now. Her photos were taken in and around where she grew up in Virginia. They "act as a metaphorical map of the rediscovered paths of my childhood home."

"At the age of 34, I came back to Virginia to care for my mother, who died shortly after my return. As the last of my family passed, I turned my lens to old friends, and their new families. I photographed the hosue in which I grew up... These photographs are not meant to be purely autobiographical, but rather representations of how I view things based on my own experiences and those of the people that I have met along the way. My work has always been a metaphor for my own growing up, and the small deaths of childhood innocence that occur on the road to becoming an adult."

Susan seeks, most of all, to bridge the gap between her past and present lives by photographing them both within the same frame. In some ways, this approach is very similar to mine. Most of my images are taken at my grandparent's house in Staunton, Va or with objects from their house. The house is a place of many childhood memories and a great influence on who I have become and the art I produce. That house is now a landscape of solitude and family history that gradually seeps into my photography. The condition of the house has been degrading for some time and it now stands empty of life as history is packed into boxes or distributed amongst family members.

Combining this aspect of family history with the influence of animal anthropomorphism is my main focus. Many of her images touch on this subject as well.

http://susanworshamphotography.com/home.html

Window Box Remains, 2008

Untitled, 2008

Lively Little Rabbit, 2008

The Beekeeper's Other Daughter, 2008

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