Shadow Places – Five
For this commission, Amy has created a series of photographic self-portraits titled Shadow Places and accompanying creative writing/spoken text about living with complex post traumatic stress disorder.
Image Description
Landscape oriented photo. The interior of a Medieval storage cellar. There is a curved roof made of bricks and bright green moss and lichen cover the walls and ceiling. To the left of the image is a figure in an old fashioned lacy high-necked dress. She is white with short red hair. She is crouching in a strange half bow position, in her left hand a bunch of dried honesty (a plant that, when dried, looks like silvery moons). In her right hand is a wooden walking stick, held at an angle away from the body. Central to the image is an arched entranceway leading to green foliage outside. The ground is made of damp earth and leaves.
Spoken Text
I never understood my hair
Tangled crawling waves
A grubby mane
Small concerned hands checking the edge of the forest for beasts
These threads are strung high
I never understood my face
Clear blue, wide and confused
Made of soft skin and barbed spikes
Iron filled mouth, acquainted with hard wood
A handful of vile vignettes
We lose ourselves in the image other people decide for us
The sliding thoughts that come ready
When we light up the truth
It shatters, clear
Treacle bones holding unearned guilt