Last Night We Had the Same Dream | Cheryl Newman
How can a photograph describe the passage of time?
Last night we had the same dream; that the tree was missing has become an allegory for my history. I have been photographing the tree for many years; it is a constant, a visual poem for the passing of time and for loss. Approaching the space and witnessing its disappearance has a profound effect on my image making. It is now a stage to revisit and share love, reverence and respect for my lost family, bringing with it memories of childhood, of relationships and friendships.
Creating the collages becomes a ritual, using archive family images. I bring magic and mythology to the ghosts that inhabit the space. My work is an exploration of the human condition, creating landscapes of emotions. I reach back, bringing to life memories as memento mori. The physical process and vulnerability of the film connect me to my human flaws on an emotional level. I make the fragility of our relationship with nature both conscious and unconscious and describe the silence that cannot have a voice.
Photographed on 5×4 and medium format and printed on Awagami paper, the collages are photographs that reveal my mother and aunts as brides and me as the good girl, dressed in white printed on delicate fabrics as fragile as my memories.
Words and Photography by Cheryl Newman
Cheryl Newman is a London-based artist and curator working with photography and collage. Her practice explores the emotional landscape of love, desire, and family history and is an exploration of the human condition described as landscapes of emotions. Her work mixes archive to describe her history through thematic narratives to examine photographic representation of memory.
