‘This project began as a thank you to these wonderful women who I have been fortunate to get to know over the last few years. I moved to Revelstoke with my family in 2017. We quickly found ourselves welcomed and supported by the warmth, kindness and generosity of the people around us. This past year especially has presented huge challenges for everyone, here in Revelstoke and across our world. It has also given us all a bit of time to reflect, and to be grateful for what we do have. I am so thankful for this beautiful valley, fresh air and freedom to breathe it in, and for the close connections of family and community.
I wanted to take these pictures as a way to fill a room full of friends in the middle of a pandemic, and to recognize the beauty that I see in each of these women. There is a vulnerability in standing in front of the camera, allowing it to record our faces and fix them in time for close inspection. We are our own worst critics, yet we do not examine each other under the glare of that same hyper-critical light. In each other we see so much more than what’s on the surface.
The shallow focus and transparent film material allows the images to float and overlap, to be not quite so fixed as a print on the wall. The images are interleaved a little here & there, showing glimpses of each other through each other. It plays on ideas of surface and depth, the transparent and the ephemeral, the fact that we are internal beings, yet reliant on our relationships, and our connections with one another. How do we see ourselves? How are we seen? What do we show of ourselves, what do we hide?
Our connection to one another lies much deeper than the surface. It’s the depth of that connection that binds us together, as friends, as family, as community
– Maja Swannie Jacob
Standing immersed within all these portraits feels like a warm embrace of the women surrounding you. Enjoy this comforting feeling and find joy in this portraiture version of human connection.
