Sandy Carson
Sandy Carson
Passing Place
Hardcover
9 x 6.5 inches
108 pages
Edition of 350
Published by Yoffy Press
2020
About the Book:
Passing Place is an intimate portrait of both Sandy Carson’s mother and the ex-mining village he grew up in the West of Scotland after emigrating to America at a young age. This photographic memoir deals with separation, space, and the invisible family bonds that exist despite physical distance incurred by geographical displacement.
The name is inspired by one-lane rural roads with wide spots that are common in Scotland, allowing vehicles to pass each other and continue on their journey.
These photographs and memories made on annual visits home since 2001, are a testimony to Carson’s upbringing and a gentle reminder that absence creates longing and nostalgia across the miles. Carson was drawn to make a record of everyday domestic rituals and routines during the rare times he and his mother spent together, to distill time with her portending passing in 2016.
By uniting his photographs with the ephemera and family photos left behind by his mum, Carson is striving to fill the void by retracing their lives, embracing the formative years they spent together, and absorbing the ones they lost.
Released November 2020
Photographs by Sandy Carson
Introduction by Allan McNaughton
Essays by Daniel Kalder and Stephen McLaren
Book review by Dana Stirling |
Passing Place by Sandy Carson is an intimate story of a family and their everyday life while being a part. In this work, Carson documents his family, who are located in West Scotland which he visits after moving the United States. His trips and visits are an opportunity to capture their lives and a document of their experience as they get together. This story is one that many can share and relate to, especially people who have immigrated and moved away from their families. Distance and geographical location does not have to define your relationship but it always has an impact on it – if you like it or not.
I myself move across the world, being about 11-13 hours away by plane from my family. Although my family story is very different, I think we all long for some sort of connection to our past, to what is familiar to us and to what made us who we are. We all find our own way of connecting to it and for Sandy Carson, this book is one way to do just that.
A big part of the book and the project is the use of family album snap shots. Family albums are weirdly amazing. They are quirky, they are informative, they are funny, sad or even shocking. Family albums are curated moments in a group of people’s lives. It’s their Birthdays, Holidays, Sunday’s, Weddings, School Portraits, Vacations, and everything in between.
These photos are documents of people in our lives and important moments that we might no even have been a part of, or born to see yet, but we can now be part of with these images. They can also be sad reminders of people who have left us and are now just figures in these photo album pages that we remember. I think the use of these images is something that many artists do. It makes us feel connected to our family and it is a visual way to bridge the gap between the past and the present in a very concrete way. It helps enrich the lives of the people who are documented and allows the viewer and even better understanding of the family dynamic that is captured.
I think we, as viewers and people in general, have a need to look into people’s lives. Where do they live, how do they live, how do they love? We compare ourselves to them, we try and find comfort in other’s happiness, or we can escape our own past and look for something better in others.
In his new images, the present ones, Sandy is both adding to this family archive but in a way they are very different. They seem to be less of a documentation of those perfect moments, and more of a capture of the moment before he goes back and leave them behind again. It feels more like an admiration for the small things, the little moments that are being appreciated due to the distance and it feels like someone who has a need to find new ways to remember.
One of the first images in the book is of a tin box filed with family snapshots. I think it is a great start to the book as it really sets the mood and the intention for the entire story that will be unfolding before us. It makes it almost feel as if we are going to dive into this tin box, look at these images one by one and reminisce on the good times.
The book has some special pages that are unique and different than the rest of the book. Pages that are sheer/vellum for example, they resemble the traditional albums or pages that are smaller in size that represent old books. These small details are both a pleasant surprise, but also really enhances that aspect of nostalgia and the intimate observation of what family memorabilia is. This book, although modern and public, is trying to also mimic the notion of scrap books and the feeling of holding something that is precious and that is a part of someone’s family.
This book is a lovely story of a home. A place that you can see the artist feels safe and loved. There is a great warmth to this project, it feels nostalgic and romantic all while still having that glimpse into the mundane and underwhelming. It a story of a family and their crossing place.
