Body of Work
1994
1995
2011
fixed reborn shrunk reclaimed
fixed reborn shrunk reclaimed
I was five inches taller and twenty pounds lighter and standing next to my sister made me love myself.
I was two years younger and half an inch shorter and standing next to my sister made me feel like nothing could touch me.
1998
2012
whenever.
--
When we talked about Barthes, a sentence that ended up double-underlined and starred in my notes was, "Photography is the truth that proves history." No statement about photography so far has connected with my relationship with photography prior to this class quite this powerfully. I distinctly remember, as a chubby pre-teen, asking my mother when I'd stopped being skinny. She pulled out a series of pictures (one of which is included in the essay--my sister and I in bathing suits when I'm around seven) and said, "See? You were never skinny."
I was also interested here in the concept as photography implying the death of the subject, and one of the ideas I wanted to explore here was that the versions of me and my sister present in each picture no longer exist. Each iteration of the two of us exists once, which is fitting with the way that our bodies are constantly changing with regards to each other's. In the earlier pictures, we're very nearly the same height, but I became taller--an bigger--than her at a very young age. And those were our roles. We didn't ever see ourselves as things that would change. If nothing else, this essay means to show the death of that complacency.
Most everyone touched on the idea of my sister and me as a dichotomy, but not as many comments specifically mentioned the idea of body image or weight loss or eating disorders or sexuality, which surprised me. So I titled the essay Body of Work to draw attention to the fact that I did intend for this to be an essay about bodies and the way they are created, altered, compared, and deconstructed. The last photograph works as my conclusion here; I actually took this picture to give to a group of girls for them to guess what I weighed. I was asking my body to be named by the viewers of a photograph. I was asking them to assign a caption to this photograph the same way my mother did the picture of the seven-year-old in her bathing suit.
Differences of the same genetics- I see this sequence representing the differences, similarities, and growth of two sisters. The sixth picture has a punctum, for me, and it is the smile you have on your face... because it is the same smile your sister has on her face.
ReplyDeleteMirror Image, Body Image - A lot of these images remind me of Lacanian theory because they seem to be an exploration of the body and one's image. The last image, especially, reflects a sort of self criticism in a literal mirror while the other images reflect a criticism in relation to mirrors provided by other people (ie. your sister or two bodies put together).
ReplyDeleteCoined. Hannah's essay tells me a story about sisters who were perhaps coined alike, or expected to be that which they were not. Over the years, it appears that an axis was drawn and the coin overturned---challenged. Other than the clear passage of time, the essay does not speak to me in historical context. It speaks, then, as an ambiguous unraveling of roles, where distinctions are acknowledged and outlined. I see sexuality defined on both sides of the axis and identity challenged or realized---maybe simultaneously. I see a shadow fall upon a face that wonders if she recognizes who is staring back at her in the bathroom mirror. I see the coin flipped, but know that both sides still exist.
ReplyDeleteEvery body- These photos really stress Barthes' punctum. Every photo has a point that marks the viewer, whether its a face, composition, or body. Without the text, the viewer can feel its own relation to the body: consciousness, comparison, growth, and sexuality. Though ambiguity allows the viewer to do this, I think Berger's long quotation would enhance the impact on the viewer's pathos. Our class knows the background of these photos and it makes the bond between the viewer and the subject stronger. Without it, we deduce a general commentary about the dichotomy between the physical body and the mental.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of sisterhood is evident in the photos, but sandwiched in between them are two erotic pictures of a couple. Those two pictures cause me to question the identities of the people in the childhood photos, but a similarity between the two is the portrayal of closeness and intimacy. It conveys that those feelings can be shared with anyone, and it makes no difference whether it is with a sibling, lover, or yourself.
ReplyDeleteI think that this essay really underscores the idea of punctum and how it can change for each viewer. For example, in the first photograph, the texture of the grass is what catches my attention. For some reason, it reminds me of my old home in North Carolina. I imagine that for you the punctum would probably be something about you and you sister. As a whole, I imagine that this group of images are very personal and I imagine that each photo was selected for a specific reason, because of a specific punctum. I think the positioning of bodies between you and your sister is really interesting. Especially observing the differences as you mature.
ReplyDeleteFor me these photographs told the story of the inevitable separation that occurs between two loved ones due to the passage of time. By presenting the photos of sister and sister hand in hand early on in the essay we are reminded of the dependence and closeness that in many ways can only be achieved and sustained by youth. This closeness is interrupted or perhaps weakened (as it certainly must be for everyone) by the passing of the years and the maturation of the subjects. This is fully achieved by the placing of the two photographs of couples making love: an embodiment of the moment when one leaves behind the familial closeness and replaces it with passion for another. After this moment (it may not be a sexual moment for all but for all the moment happens) one cannot simply go home again. No matter the affections still held between family members, individual paths have begun to divert and the closeness of youth can never be regained. I think this is achieved well by the last two photographs. In a stark contrast the two photos are not of sister and sister together, but rather separated. However there linger the signs of affection in that the placement of the subjects is just so that we get the notion that if the photos were placed on top of each other we would get the view of sister and sister side by side once again.
ReplyDeleteSistering. The photos portray a relationship that becomes an identity – in photos 1-3 and 6-8, both subjects are literally one of a pair, positioned in a shared identity that relies upon the other. The last two photos are the first attempts at separation – the last especially, with the mirror distorting the entire image, flipping the crest bottle, toothbrush and razor, reveals the anxieties of separating after a long period of interdependence.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, Hannah's essay encourages us to see in pairs, and even draw dichotomies perhaps. At first glance, the narrative of this essay is deceptively simple--a story of change and separation. However, while this essay takes the visage of linear change, it does not pay homage to linear time. Even after the viewer has been convinced that the sisters have "grown up" following the 4th and 5th images, the essay still retains images of what we would call childhood and the "past." Yet there is something very different in the uneasy embrace in the 8th photo from the relationship shown in the beach scenes on the 2nd and 3rd. At the end we face the question of who these figures are...which are still living...and which have changed form?
ReplyDeleteI read the trauma of body image among girls in popular culture in these essays - the two sisters are embodied in so many different ways here, but the final image of Hannah photographing herself from the side, with her super flat stomach as the focus, coupled with the traumatized look of utter concentration and disgust on her face, is particularly poignant.
ReplyDeleteHands. Where does each person in these pictures place their hands?
ReplyDeleteIn the photos of partners/people paired together there are mixed messages sent from these hands: they say 'this is mine,' and 'you are coming with me,'and 'we are each other (we are inseparable)'. It is difficult to differentiate these messages, or tell if there is difference at all. There is a sense that our bodies need to hold other bodies and be held.
Even in the pictures of solitary figures, the person holds on to something. The women in the purple shirt holds on to a railing, bolstering her presence. In the last picture, the self portrait of Hannah, she is holding on to herself: on to a iphone containing the image of herself.
Whether it is visually apparent or not in each picture, the inseparable state of vulnerability that accompanies this need to be held is carried beneath each photograph. For me, the punctum of the photo of the woman in the purple shirt is her hand clenched on the iron post. Why does she hold it so tightly? It appears as if she is trying to ground herself with the sturdy iron; to root herself like the colossal tree behind her, which seems serenely itself, yet there is a universe of flora around it which supports it.
I love that I picked out the theme of body and culture from this essay. Your own narrative beautifully meshes with what I read. This leads me to believe that this photo essay could easily have stood on its own, without the additional language. The last photo tells it all. What if that photo had gone first?
ReplyDelete