Crisis in Permanence I
Clara Jeanne Reed, Crisis in Permanence, polaroid emulsions on wood, 2022
This is a series of affirmation, manipulated through alternative processing. Painted on my body backwards, like memories you can’t remember all the details to, they serve as individual calling cards. They were photographed in a mirror then and printed on a polaroid, then painted on watercolor paper through the emulsion lift process. The many steps required in their assemblage is reminiscent of the dilutive power of the brain. We remember things differently as time passes, we lie to our bodies and abuse them, we miss the present because our eyes are glued to the rear view mirror. And mirrors play tricks on you, just like your memory.
These images tell many different stories. Stories of suffocating doubt, stories of wonderfully cliche love, stories of hard earned acceptance, stories of paralyzing fear. It is my hope that to each who chooses to listen, they will become mirrors themselves, reflecting the stories we are so desperate to find ourselves in.
First Edition
Exhibition History:
“Crisis in Permanence,” polaroid emulsion lifts on wood, 2022. Tapestries of Memory, curated by Daniel Kuzinez, Ornithology Jazz Club, Brooklyn, NY, January 2023.
