Italiano
Fugue di Lydia Goldblatt è un insieme di opere sull’amore e il dolore, la maternità e la perdita di una madre, l’intimità e la distanza, raccontate attraverso fotografie e scrittura. Incentrato sullo spazio domestico e realizzato nel corso di quattro anni, racconta una storia che non è né apologetica né idealizzata. Quando Goldblatt divenne madre si ritrovò incapace di realizzare fotografie. Tuttavia, dopo la morte della madre, ha ricominciato a fotografare, sia a casa che nella città intorno a lei. ‘Volevo essere onesta riguardo a ciò con cui stavo lottando, riguardo ai sentimenti di claustrofobia e rabbia, così come all’intimità e all’amore. Questi sono sentimenti così spesso nascosti dalle madri, così spesso messi a tacere come inaccettabili.’
Goldblatt lavora su pellicola di medio formato per realizzare le sue fotografie. Quando ha iniziato questa serie significava che il processo era cieco e lei non vedeva le immagini che stava realizzando se non mesi dopo. Questo le ha permesso di rallentare fisicamente e mentalmente e di sviluppare un modo di vedere e sentire intuitivo. Nello stesso periodo iniziò anche a scrivere. Il suo testo lirico si intreccia in tutto il libro. “Fotografare è diventata un’ancora di salvezza, un modo di intrecciare il passato con il presente. Attraverso le mie immagini e i miei scritti, ho potuto pensare alle trasformazioni che accompagnano la maternità e la perdita. E potrei sfidare gli archetipi e i tabù della maternità. Al di là della maternità, ha potuto esplorare un senso più ampio di caregiving attraverso le relazioni che il mio partner intrattiene con i nostri figli, quelle che intrattengono tra loro e attraverso la scrittura che abbraccia generazioni. Spero che questo lavoro dia voce a una storia che è allo stesso tempo individuale e collettiva.’
Le fotografie raffigurano il ritmo della vita domestica, lo scorrere dei giorni e delle stagioni. Mostrano l’immobilità degli oggetti in contrasto con i bambini piccoli che si muovono dentro e fuori dall’inquadratura e con la luce in continua evoluzione. Goldblatt attinge a piccoli dettagli della vita quotidiana – la consistenza della pelle e lenzuola assortite, spazzoloni, piante d’appartamento e specchi – trasmettendo non una registrazione della vita, ma un sentimento. La fotografa stessa viene intravista attraverso riflessi, ombre o carne astratta, collocandosi sia all’interno delle fotografie che come osservatrice, intima e distante. Il titolo Fugue ha due significati. La definizione musicale dell’intreccio e le ripetizione di elementi in una composizione che collettivamente creano una narrazione complessa. Si riferisce anche a uno stato dissociativo o perdita di sé. Entrambi i significati comprendono le trasformazioni che accompagnano la maternità e la perdita, e le risonanze profondamente personali e collettive della vita domestica quotidiana.
English
Fugue by Lydia Goldblatt is a body of work about love and grief, mothering and losing a mother, intimacy and distance, told through photographs and writing. Centring on the domestic space and made over the course of four years, it tells a story that is neither apologetic nor idealised.
When Goldblatt became a mother she found herself unable to make pictures. However, after her own mother died, she began to photograph again, both at home and in the city around her.
‘I wanted to be honest about what I was struggling with, about the feelings of claustrophobia and rage, as much as intimacy and love. These are feelings so often hidden by mothers, so often silenced as unacceptable.’
Goldblatt works on medium format film to make her photographs. When she began this series it meant that the process was blind, and she didn’t see the images she was making for months. It allowed her to slow down physically and mentally and develop a way of looking and feeling intuitively. At the same time she also began writing.
Her lyrical text weaves throughout the book.
‘Photographing became a lifeline, a way of weaving past through present. Through my pictures and writing, I was able to think about the transformations that accompany motherhood and loss. And I could challenge the archetypes and taboos of motherhood. Beyond mothering, I have been able to explore a wider sense of caregiving through the relationships my partner holds with our children, those they hold with each other, and through the writing that spans generations. I hope that this work gives voice to a story that is both individual and collective.’
The photographs depict a rhythm of domestic life, the passing of days and seasons. They show the stillness of objects contrasted against small children moving in and out of frame and everchanging light. Goldblatt draws upon small details of daily life—the texture of skin and assorted sheets, mops, houseplants and mirrors—imparting not a record of life, but a feeling. The photographer herself is glimpsed through reflections, shadows or abstract flesh—placing herself both within the photographs and also as an observer, intimate and distant.
The title Fugue holds two meanings. The musical definition of interweaving and repeating elements in a composition which collectively create a complex narrative. It also refers to a dissociative state or loss of self. Both meanings encompass the transformations that accompany motherhood and loss, and the deeply personal and collective resonances of daily domestic life.
Goldblatt works on medium format film to make her photographs. When she began this series it meant that the process was blind, and she didn’t see the images she was making for months. It allowed her to slow down physically and mentally and develop a way of looking and feeling intuitively. At the same time she also began writing.
Her lyrical text weaves throughout the book.
‘Photographing became a lifeline, a way of weaving past through present. Through my pictures and writing, I was able to think about the transformations that accompany motherhood and loss. And I could challenge the archetypes and taboos of motherhood. Beyond mothering, I have been able to explore a wider sense of caregiving through the relationships my partner holds with our children, those they hold with each other, and through the writing that spans generations. I hope that this work gives voice to a story that is both individual and collective.’
The photographs depict a rhythm of domestic life, the passing of days and seasons. They show the stillness of objects contrasted against small children moving in and out of frame and everchanging light. Goldblatt draws upon small details of daily life—the texture of skin and assorted sheets, mops, houseplants and mirrors—imparting not a record of life, but a feeling. The photographer herself is glimpsed through reflections, shadows or abstract flesh—placing herself both within the photographs and also as an observer, intimate and distant.
The title Fugue holds two meanings. The musical definition of interweaving and repeating elements in a composition which collectively create a complex narrative. It also refers to a dissociative state or loss of self. Both meanings encompass the transformations that accompany motherhood and loss, and the deeply personal and collective resonances of daily domestic life.
