personal histories international exhibition

"Possibility"  michelle saffran:  handmade accordion fold book with original photograph

:  folded size 4" x 6" 2014  $125.

I have pushed against the ideas of time being unredeemable and that reexamining the past is futile. 

I believe we continually redeem the past through its re-imagination and that it is this re-imagination that tells us who we are and offers us the opportunity to become who we most want to be.  Because the past is with us in the present, and will be part of our future we may redeem what is lost. 

I call upon the photograph to trigger an uncanny re-experiencing of the past.  The intention behind my work is to explore the possibilities of a photograph as a catalyst for remembrance and a summons to reflect on loss.

The book "Possibility" is from a series of photographic stories about my family.  The series is my reflection on the identities of my parents, my siblings and myself as people separate from our roles within the family.  "Possibility" is dedicated to my mom who, as the book says, grew up in the era where being born a girl meant a specific set of expectations, rules that determined and limited her path in life.  In this book I give her the wings to achieve all her dreams.

"Possibility" will be part of the Personal Histories international exhibition organized by Robyn and Glenn Foster of Australia.  More than a year in the planning, this book arts exhibition will travel within Australia from the Redlands Art Museum in October (2014), to Redland Art Gallery (April 2015), and then on to RMT University Gallery Canberra in Septemeber  2015.  An ambitious project and equally ambitious tour schedule.  I only wish I could see the show in person.  Fortunately for those of us who won't be able to visit Australia, the exhibition website is an amazing showcase of all the artist's work.