Gallery: Not Now, Not Ever
August 2004-2006
This series was started about a week after my stepfather died in the summer of 2004. What began as a personal look back at my own troubled past turned into a larger exploration of places that drum up a similar emotional resonance. I have long viewed the bulk of my photographic practice as self-portraiture – reflections of myself filtered through a sense of shared history with locations and the people that inhabit them. My photos are often described as capturing a feeling of isolation, and while that is there, I am also interested in exploring a contemplative form of solitude or most especially public solitude of the kind one would feel when walking down a street alone or that feeling you get while sitting on a street curb contemplating a crack in the sidewalk as the world passes by. Sometimes those moments are sad and express a withdrawal from the social world but they are also tender moments of aloneness that we all experience at one time or another.
Because I started this particular project while revisiting my childhood geography, time and place is very important to me. I try to create imagery that is difficult to date, capturing something that isn’t “right now” but isn’t any specific time that has ever been or ever will be.
- Gayla
renee — November 30th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Wow, Gayla, this whole series is quite stirring. The images are striking in their beauty, but also resonate the solitude you referred to. I’m not entirely sure why, but the bloom (hydrangea) by the small puddle brought tears to my eyes. Incredible work, awed, as always.
Milo — December 1st, 2007 at 6:48 am
excellent series, your photos have inspired me for years. this selection really works well together.