I made these photos of Camille because she is effervescent, a constant in my life, arcing bright white streaks through my mind like a comet. Camille in white, Camille draped over a chair, Camille wearing a headdress of pearls, Camille in the stars. I spent more than a few hours cutting these stars out of silver paper using a stencil which I also made. I then secured them using tape and some fishing line to my ceiling and this lovely piece of dark purple fabric which I found at a store for repurposed craft supplies.
Cassiopeia was a favorite constellation growing up, being one of the few with what my twelve-year-old mind understood was sex appeal. Cassiopeia was a queen in Aethiopia, and mother to the Aethiopian princess Andromeda. She was beautiful but also very vain. She claimed that she and Andromeda were more beautiful than the Nereids (ocean nymphs, and daughters of Poseidon). Poseidon grew angry at this and sent a huge wave to flood the country. Cassiopeia then decided (along with her husband, let’s not forget) to sacrifice Andromeda to the sea by chaining her to a rock. Andromeda did not end up becoming a sacrifice, due to Perseus’ rescue. Poseidon still thought Cassiopeia deserved punishment after being foiled, tied her to a chair, and flung her up among the stars. For half the year, the constellation (which looks like an “M” or a “W”) hangs upside down in the sky as part of her punishment.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about this series and what it means to me. My partner suggested that I read “Why I Write” by George Orwell. It was a decent essay, though I liked the response by Joan Didion better. Orwell listed four main reasons people write: sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, and political purpose. As soon as I read the paragraph about aesthetic enthusiasm, my pulse lept. Orwell described this as
“Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed. The aesthetic motive is very feeble in many writers, but even a pamphleteer or writer of textbooks will have pet words and phrases that appeal to him for non-utilitarian reasons; or he may feel strongly about typography, width of margins, etc. Above the level of a railway guide, no book is quite free from aesthetic considerations.”
I’d be foolish to say there is no egoism in my work. I am human and often preoccupied with myself. I make these for pleasure. I feel good making them. I also have a “desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed.” The work I like best (mine and others) is work I can tell people put time into. I don’t want to see the first draft upon the page and call it finished.
I also recently got a new camera to play with. I’ve been taking so many test images. Here is my best below: holly snapped off a bush from a large house next to the park.
