This is the fifth piece in my newest Concentration, but it was one that I desperately wanted to do. I had the idea of it in my head almost from the beginning. However, I waited until I was a few pieces in to allow myself to figure out what exactly it was I wanted to do. The slide used is one of my late grandmother, Louis Swan Jones, or Mere as I called her. She was an art historian who taught at Texas University and traveled around Europe during the 50's, 60's and 70's to document and catalog the art. This resulted in chests upon chests of slides that our family has buried away in storage. However, last summer my father and I began to sort through them. We spent many summer afternoons hunched over a light table with magnifying glasses, sorting the good slides from the bad. It wasn't until months later that I had the idea to scan a few slides in and to begin manipulating them. But, when I started, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do, did I want to tell a story? Did I want the original picture and the old to interact? When I looked at this slide, I knew I wanted to have myself in the picture along with Mere. Which is when I thought of the idea of copying her pose and reflecting it. However, there wasn't enough room in the picture to fit the entire pose in, so I extended the photo by continuing the background just enough to fit myself in along side her. Which ended up entirely shifting the iea of my concentration, but for the better, I think.
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