By photographing toys under the shape of stuffed animals my aim was to create a portrait of a memory. Each of these items represent important people and events in my life. Whilst other people see nothing but the object in the photograph I see a part of my past and a constant reminder of the people I love. When printing the images in the darkroom after developing the film, I realized that materiality also plays a key role when it comes to photography. Due to the fact that the image from the negative was transfered to the paper and then the plushie emmerged on the surface, the print became more than a visual representation. It was transformed into a visual object which exists in time and space. The emotions triggered by the print were similar to the ones induced by the actual toy, even if it was a reproduction of it.
With regards to what the images reveal about myself as a person, this cannot be understood by viewing the photograph itself. It has to be accompanied by a description of each toy in order to provide the viewer with a broader perspective and enable him/her to understand the context of the object, why it is so important and what it represents. There are 10 prints in total, each of them depicting a plushie. The accompanning text reflects their name, age, nationality and story. By attributing them human characteristics, I wish to show that these object have become more than just toys. They are so important to me that I decided to take photos of them and place the images in an album in order to immortalise them forever.
