Dangerous Combinations

Day 30: Sainted

There was a time when I was going to get married.  The boy died. Tragic, I know. Out of this came a neurotic habit to document everything.

 A lot of photography is making records of people, as objects, friends. It’s like organizing a wardrobe—in terms of size etc.  - Francesca Woodman
I used to know a boy that would ask me all my favorite songs.  When I answered he said.  “Those are all very sad but you know, they make a great story.” At one point my life was a tragic story and although I claimed to be miserable, there was a part of me that thrived off it, knowing that my life would never be boring, knowing I would always have a story.
These days I’m creating a different life, one with cobblestone streets and shutters that open outward.  I spent the morning in the back garden thinking about how lucky I was to actually have a back garden.  These are the days that should be spent drinking lemonade and listening to old radio shows.  I’m lucky to have days that I can spend taking photographs and editing them, writing articles and painting pictures.
 Now we come to the passage. You can just see a little peep of the passage in Looking-glass House, if you leave the door of our drawing room wide open: and it’s very like our passage as far as you can see, only you know it may be quite different on beyond.  -Francesca Woodman
There will always be a need in me to document everything, whether it be the process of a painting or a strange occurrence in my life. There’s a part of me that still trembles if I don’t have a picture.  I don’t trust my memory and a picture is physical proof. WE WERE HERE. We existed.

 Things looked funny because my pictures depend on an emotional state… I know this is true and I thought about this for a long time. Somehow it made me feel very, very good.  - Francesca Woodman
The thing about Francesca’s work that inspires do many is that it’s incredibly honest, gritty, and emotional. She was beyond her years in talent.  She burnt out instead of fading away.  My flowers on the other hand take time to bloom, my work takes more shape with age and experience.


1.) Confession -  I never feel like my work is “there”.
2.) Oracle - “Then at one point I did not need to translate the notes; they went directly to my hands” – Francesca Woodman
3.) Body - I ate a lot of spinach soup
4.) Sacrifice - Time with friends for work
5.) Relinquish - A sense of urgency
6.) Inspiration - Once again Francesca Woodman
7.) Structure - Photographs

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