Part 13 Easy Riders, Cops and Maniacs A man is stood in a pool hall. He’s surveying the green baize landscape as he drinks. Should he bother with the game anymore? The light has a medicinal quality, emanating with an annoying buzz from a long halogen strip above the table, proudly advertising Canada Dry ginger beer. It could be a lonely portrait by Walker Evans … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 14)
Part 6 Time and again, cinema seems drawn to Polaroid photography, often in unusual and tangential ways. Antonioni’s film, even if ultimately about 35mm photography, is not the only one to explore the strangely tangible qualities of space within photography (or the things contained within a photograph beyond the image). When looking at Polaroids, we perceive them spatially. By that I mean we have the … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 7)
Part 4 The French philosopher René Descartes believed that his recollections were evidence he was not dreaming. He knew he was not asleep and merely creating the world in his mind’s eye because he was surrounded by things possessing a context that he was aware of personally. ‘But when I perceive things of which I clearly know both the place they come from and that … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 5)
Part 3 Journeying Maps A Polaroid is a map of sorts. It covers such a small personal realm within its cartography that the only area it helps to locate is arguably beyond the physical world and within the memory. It shows the way back to the spaces of our past. The image of a Polaroid may fade in comparison to our experiences but it is … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 4)
Part 2 ‘We were here, too, once and please take care of us for a while.’ ‘With digital technology,’ wrote memoirist Annie Ernaux, ‘we drained reality dry.’ As digital creatures, we carry out an endless taxidermy upon our experiences in the ever frenzied pursuit of content. Ernaux’s poignant criticism echoes Susan Sontag’s earlier weariness at what cameras had done to our ability to simply live, … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 3)
Part 1 Histories Polaroids are shackled to nostalgia. Its aesthetic perfectly embodies the past tense, especially in the cold light of today’s digital world. The presence captured, however, makes even the oldest photos whisper of the living moment as it happened. As an object, they are driven by this contradiction. Being so close to our lives charges these images with supernatural static. But, more importantly, … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 2)
‘There is a spectre inside every photograph.’ – Deborah Levy, The Man Who Saw Everything Haunting I am haunted by Polaroids. After I have taken one, I feel I have bottled something. Under my bed is a box in which I store them. It is sealed tight with a stone atop to keep the spirits locked inside. At night, I swear I sometimes hear the … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 1)
Celluloid Wicker Man 