What I was going to write for this set of photos and what all had happened to prompt them has fallen a little to the side. The things that have happened since the beginning of all this has changed how I view the events and their meaning .
Losing everything at this stage of life is a whole different game, far different than doing so in my 20-30s or even into my 40s. At the time of the fire it was raw and emotional and a real sense of loss. A couple of years later I still feel the loss but mostly of the works and art of others I had collected over the last 50 yrs. The irreplaceable stuff , it along with the stuff that triggered memorys and represented milestones of life and people.
I am constantly reminded of what 45 Bob said often “they can’t take away your birthday” . I have the mental images and memorys inside me so nothing that was lost is lost. And I am still the richer for the experience of the work and people who made them.
There is a lot more to this story but it will have to wait for another post . As it stands these images are of my new reality and life after losing many many years of work and collecting. The comfort of age and routine is so easily broken but there is always a tomorrow if you have people and animals who stand with you.
thank you to all who stood up for me and helped me survive the fire and aftermath
So touching, I know this wasn’t easy for you Ray and I’m real happy that you are in a better place now. I love your visual treatment of the subject, the set brought to mind Caravaggio and how he how he shows us the impact of trauma. It happens that today I’m meeting with a few photographers to discuss images and in particular how to visually set a mood in an image. I may use your images, if you don’t mind, to illustrate how that can be accomplished.
So grateful Brodie, Millie and Maneki were there with you when I could not. We will rebuild and add to the memories, I promise.