The Tree Of Life, Etc.

THE TREE OF LIFE by Terrence Malick is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950's. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father . Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith. Through Malick's signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.

A couple days after Xmas last year I got a note from photographer Gabriela Herman with a link to this trailer. She had seen this preview and it reminded her of Echolilia in some intanglible way. I watched the trailer and was drawn to it right away. The world of boys, visited thru the memory of the eldest brother. Curtains, drapery, screen doors, lanky limbs, shirtless and fragile, these kids all seemed to carry the weight of family and all it's complexities with them.

Sunday was both Father's Day and my birthday. A strange intersection of holidays that happens once every ...oh...I don't know how often really? What better day to escape the family and buy a matinee seat to The Tree Of Life by myself and just try to take it all in. Before heading out the door I rediscovered a blog post written about ECHOLILIA by Angela Auclair, from her blog titled "From The Dock":

many people photograph their children.
photographers are no different.
but not all photographers photograph their children honestly.
you know what i mean. always clean, always happy, always perfect.

that is just not reality.

others feel that there is more beauty in the imperfection of childhood, but not just the umbrella of childhood...in the imperfection of the actual child. because none of us are perfect, for whatever that word means.
it is the very qualities that make a child different that makes that child so spectacularly beautiful to their parent. and frustrating.

and in his collection, echolilia, timothy archibald is both father and photographer and his son...well, he is just eli in all his wonder.

this series is a collection of photographs sharing eli's world.
it is much more than that...but i want you to discover it for yourself.
i can stare at these photos for hours. i see my kids in these photos. hell, i see me in these photos. i see a parent's struggle and i see a photographer using his medium to survive something really freaking hard in his life.

i see innocence, confusion, love...so much here.

So well stated. Thank for all of that, Angela and Gabriela.

Friday Night Videos

The Tiger Lillies- Living Hell from Mark Holthusen on Vimeo.

I had a dream the other night I was forced at gunpoint to create a video.

But I like photography....I don't want to make a video. It wouldn't look like me...

Just saw The Tiger Lillies-Living Hell by Mark Holthusen and really just could not believe how well this video manifested the artist's aesthetic. It actually seemed as if video was the more fully realized medium for his rich and complex imagery. The grotesque makeup, the sea sick feeling of unbalance and the floating snow setting the pace in this world of sketchy characters are all themes that have surfaced in his still photography over the years. It was so powerful, such a smooth transition, I really didn't know what to say. It was all there.

Then today on The Photography Post I see Die Antwoord-Wat Pomp directed by Roger Ballen. A little less fully realized compared to the Holthusen video, makes me cringe in a way where I kind of wish Ballen didn't try this...but fascinating attempt to ponder.

See them here. See Holthusen's work HERE. See Ballen's work HERE.

Mann, Goldsworthy and Nerds

Revenge of The Nerds (1984) is my favorite film of all time. When that is not on or my copy is lost, we must find other things to watch.

Finally got a chance to see the documentary Rivers and Tides, Working With Time (2001) about artist Andy Goldsworthy last weekend, and then dug into What Remains, The Life And Work Of Sally Mann (2008) this evening. I don't want to get into a big review, but again it is interesting to see what sticks in your brain after watching these things. Goldsworthy comes off as a true whacked-out artist who is shown communing with nature and molding it into his art in such an effortless and organic manner that he seems to be more plant than human. In the land, making his art, he is deep in the flow. He is at peace and delivering the goods...and he knows it. The crew later visits him at home at the kitchen table, surrounded by his children's play full energy while his wife cooks breakfast and he seems to be checked out of the scene: distanced, distracted, physically there but not present. That scene told it all...he just isn't meant for human contact. He can try to play the game amidst us humans. He can get a wife and have some kids, live in a house, etc....but he is meant to be in the land.

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I had heard all sorts of great things about What Remains. Mann became the definitive Mom photographer with the 1992 publication of Immediate Family, her body of work on her kids. Now, 15 years later, I have kids and am trying to address it in my work, so I thought it would be cool to view this. I had always liked Mann's images, though I was always confused by their similarity to the work of photographer Emmet Gowin, whom I believe was her teacher. Gowin's work, no question, defined the genre of photographing family. I learned about his work early and am still moved by it to this day. But...we are here to discuss Sally Mann.

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The documentary is lame: Mann could not be a more well adjusted and a totally grounded human being. Her kids, now grown, seem to have a great relationship with her. Her husband is cool and they love each other and seem to be best buds forever. I'm psyched for her, but all of this harmony makes for a boring documentary. The whole thing climaxes with an exhibition of hers being cancelled by Pace Gallery in NY. We never find out why this happened or what the deal was. Were they afraid it wasn't going to sell? Were they bummed by the subject matter ( dead bodies ) she was working with? Did they have a hot show by David LaChappelle they wanted to show instead?

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The body of work she was trying to exhibit dealt frankly with death and decay, two themes which have always been in Mann's work, so this new body of work wasn't really a left turn...more of an extension of things she has touched on in the past. It looked great to me: it had the darkness of her work, but lacked the physical sensual wonder the children always inserted into the Family images. It was a new body of work for sure that stood confidently on it's own. Seeing this revered artist suddenly overtaken by self doubt, right in front of the film crew was a priceless moment for anyone who has dealt with artistic rejection ...which I'd assume is everyone reading this blog.

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Watching The Mother Project, the documentary about Tierney Gearon a few months back kicked my ass and gave me license of sorts for my Echolilia project. I didn't get that from What Remains, but Mann did have a moment when she was discussing her Immediate Family images. She credits the kids with images totally, explaining the depth of self awareness and control the kids had to put forth to deliver these images to her. She didn't really take any credit for the images herself...and it rang true. Anyone who has shot a kid over and long period of time knows that feeling. The kid is delivering the performance, you are both sharing the experience...but the photographer is really just pushing the button.