johanna inman

more than anything, i was struck by how similar johanna inman's artist statement for her project "photographing (jo)hannah" is to the way i describe my own work:

"i began photographing my niece hannah as a way to recreate my experience at her age. i thought that by using her and her sister emma as models, i could visually reconstruct memories of my sisters and me when we were young.

through this process, i have discovered that the girls' own personalities are impossible to ignore. their stories are often revealed in more than just the subtext of these images. as I continue to photograph them, i recognize that the photographs are collaborations, reflecting us all."

this is my artist statement:

"i feel a strong need to photograph my life, and while for many photographers that often means recording their lives as they unfold, for me that means remembering things that had already happened. i approach these often painful remembrances the same way a writer would set about a memoir, letting the memories slowly work their way out of my head."

i'm considering adding this:

"by utilizing imagery from not just my memory, but from the mythology shared with me by my mom and aunts, the work becomes a sort of family-portrait with my older sister standing in as a representation of myself, and also as a collective representative of the two generations of women who grew up in the same house."

(i can't decide if the last part gives too much away) in any event, i certainly empathize with johannah's impulse to explore self portraiture through the use of a doppelganger.