Somewhere Between Comfort & Danger

“Nostalgia (from nostos — return home, and algia — longing) is a longing for a home that no longer exists or has never existed. Nostalgia is a sentiment of loss and displacement, but it is also a romance with one’s own fantasy. Nostalgic love can only survive in a long-distance relationship. A cinematic image of nostalgia is a double exposure, or a superimposition of two images — of home and abroad, past and present, dream and everyday life. The moment we try to force it into a single image, it breaks the frame or burns the surface.” - Svetlana Boym’s The Future of Nostalgia

Nostalgia encompasses everything from recalling fond memories of comfort to dangerous and consequential ideologies preventing us from moving forward as a culture. There is a heightened sense of nostalgia in this moment, where we are forced to slow down and both long for the before times, but also imagine futures better than the reality of our own histories.

As we met each week as a group, the seven of us questioned the implications and benefits of crossing the boundary to our past. Through photographic processes we've taken a look at the various sides of this emotion and how it can serve as an entry point for making new work, looking at questions about ourselves, our histories, and offering new perspectives in reflection. By diving deep into nostalgia we've realized the breadth of this vulnerable topic, examining everything from war and personal trauma to quiet comforts and reflections on family and home.

“While sorting through my photographs to see how they might make use of nostalgia I found two groups of images; one of old family photos and the other of photos I had made of my own shadow. Combining them would give me a way to merge the present with the past; crossing boundaries of time and place, inserting myself into the past. I decided to leave the layering obvious as an acknowledgment of those boundaries that can’t be crossed.”

-Don Parsisson

“Nostalgia is a fluid, multifaceted and performative force that operates at different scales. Everyone has memories that can be categorized as “unwanted memories”. Some unconscious phenomenon intertwining with the uncanny can trigger to bring them bouncing back.

I came across this beautiful thought by the renowned poet and author Amrita Pritam: “There are many stories which are not on paper, they are written in the minds and bodies of women.”

I have been thinking about this. It is necessary to push through the fog of pain or trauma; to create a narrative through the making of photographs on these “unwanted memories”, and, then, perhaps it would help me to achieve emotional catharsis.”

-Krishna Goswami

“Nostalgia is very different from a more personal homesickness for me. Nostalgia is a cultural practice and a powerful tool. Nostalgia is always political.

I have been surrounded by Atomic Nostalgia for the last twenty years. This nostalgia is usually on the conservative side. Oak Ridge, TN, in particular, has developed a collective memory of a glorious past of scientific progress, sacrificing patriotism and benevolent authority, very reluctant to go beyond a back-slapping, job-well-done nostalgia.

But there is also the concept of critical nostalgia, one that disrupts and destabilizes the official history by introducing forgotten stories and rediscovering lost utopias. Instead of yearning for a paradise lost, it can be used to stir things up and shape the future. “Ghosts of the Manhattan Project” is a series of photo palimpsests in which I am showing my fascination and my struggles with the place I am stuck in.”

-Yvonne Dalschen

“Nostalgia is a pink blanket to wear when cold. It warms up and also reminds me that it is freezing outside.”

-Erica Canepa

“I consider nostalgia as an approach to shorten the distance between myself, my family and place. I collaborate with my family across the country to make images of the space we share. Through Zoom, my sister walks me through our parents’ house, where I grew up, searching for something that still feels like home.

This year as our experiences became virtual, I think about closeness and empathy, and how to break the emotional and mental screens between us, eventually pulling these moments back into physical space by morphing photographs into sculptural installations to become tangible again. I see this work as memories of the present, reflecting on the space between the image and its shadow or projection.”

-Anna Rotty

“For over a year now, I have thought a lot about Nostalgia. I’ve looked at vintage photographs and reminisced about sometimes not so clear memories. However, some things have become quite clear; nostalgia is not always comfortable. The concept behind this grouping of images I have called “History Revised” arose from a segment of the American society wanting to return to the “good old days” when they believed America was great. Using the interpretative voice of magical realism, I reset historical boundaries to present my own version of past events.”

-Melanie Carvalho

Anna Rotty is an artist based in Oakland, CA. She received a BFA in photography from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2011. Anna has been an artist in residence at Maker’s Circle and One Plus One Plus Two in San Francisco. She has recently exhibited with Incline Gallery, SF Camerawork, PhotoPlace Gallery and Root Division. Projects have been featured with Aint Bad, Six Feet Photography, and the Curated Fridge. Her alternative-process photography was recently recognized by the Denis Roussel Award. Community and collaboration is an important part of Anna’s practice.

Practice Group Members:

Don Parsisson - IG: @eric303

Krishna Goswami - IG: @krishna_goswami_

Yvonne Dalschen - IG:  @yvonnedalschen 

Erica Canepa - IG: @ericacanepa

Anna Rotty (group facilitator) - IG: @annarotty

Melanie Carvahlo -  IG: @melanie_takes_pictures 

guest-curated galleriesMarch 28, 2021featured photographers