Polaroid paradox captures the past and the future IN the present, like only parents and their children can.
This project uses polaroid peels encased inside acrylics of parent and child; there’s space between the two. When standing in front of the polaroids the faces merge into one. When moving in any other direction, the two separate portret become apparent.
The other paradox is precisely those two standing polaroids, because one can walk around them as if it were small statues.
We are (not) I
The opposite of the Polaroid Paradox project is the project We are (not) I. Here the polaroids were deprived of space and merged together, creating a completely different look and feel.
For the Polaroid Paradoxes the Polaroid 600 series were used. After soaking them in soapy warm water, the backs were peeled off, thus creating transparency.
Display acrylic plates approximately 12 x 12 cm
similar and different
How the idea started to form
The idea arose during a photoshoot of a mother and daughter on the beach. At a certain, relaxed moment the mother watching her daughter daydreaming said “I used to do that a lot when I was her age.” At which her daughter reacted, whilst looking back at her mom “will I turn into a brunette when I’m older, just like you?” At that moment I realized, past and future met briefly in the present. The challenge then was how to bring those two together. Thinking about the how I realized there’s a certain beauty in the fact that (grand)parent and child watch each other, look at each other. Two individuals who learn from each other and put things in perspective. For me, the beauty lies in the fact that two individuals are candidly looking at each other, appreciating both the things they have in common and the things they don’t.