Weathering Time

1982-Present

I have been photographing myself since 1982. If I fail to take a picture the film is advanced so a blank image is recorded, creating a visual calendar. The 2,500+ photographs include my body from head to toe, as well as some of my environment.

For over three decades the photographs show, in fractions of a second, my body standing in an environment (mainly, I’m by myself but sometimes I’m with family and friends) in a straightforward manner for the camera. As time passes, births, deaths, celebrations, and bad days come and go; all the while, the American experience evolves.

It’s not just the body that changes: Fashions and hairstyles evolve; pets come and go; typewriters, analog clocks, and telephones with cords disappear; and finally, film gives way to digital and the computer replaces the darkroom. While Weathering Time is a personal archive, and I am mining the archive to address issues of the female body, the family snapshot and loss, I am also interested in producing images that suggest some of the experiences of my generation. Indeed, the photographs underscore the cultural, technological, and physical changes that have occurred over the past thirty-five years—from my youth to the dawn of my old age.

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