The series Once Removed consists of antique portraits in which the subject is missing. In all of the images, only the photographer’s backdrop and chair – next to which the sitter once stood – remain. The photographs are now about the absence of the subject rather than about the subject itself. “By giving me the absolute past of the pose… the photograph tells me death in the future… I shudder… over a catastrophe which has already occurred.” These words from Roland Barthes’s Camera Lucida describe how I feel when I consider a photograph as old as the ones used in this series. I feel a connection to the person, followed by a dread of what is to come, followed by a sense of grief at what has already transpired. The removal of the subject – who is very much alive in the photograph – forces the photograph to more truthfully depict a present reality in which the subject no longer lives.
Once Removed #1
Digital Print from Manipulated Found Photograph in Antique Mat,
2011, 8.75" x 6"
Once Removed #2
Digital Print from Manipulated Found Photograph in Antique Mat,
2011, 8.75" x 5.75"
Once Removed #3
Digital Print from Manipulated Found Photograph in Antique Mat,
2011, 9" x 4.75"
Once Removed #4
Digital Print from Manipulated Found Photograph in Antique Mat,
2011, 7.5" x 5"
Once Removed #5
Digital Print from Manipulated Found Photograph in Antique Mat,
2011, 9.25" x 5.5"