J. Sybylla Smith, In Conversation with Odette England
Episode #3 Summary:
Keeper of the Hearth is a visual conversation, a veritable garden, in the form of a book. We discuss Odette England’s project instigated by a central mystery embedded in Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida.
Episode Notes
This book, like England, is generous, respectful and exploratory. The Winter Garden Photograph, which is foundational to Barthes’ text, is an exploration of the import and impact of a childhood image of his recently deceased mother, Henrietta. England posed the following query to a handful of colleagues: what to you is a reimagining, an homage or a reflection of this elusive photograph?
In this book group, Odette discusses, among other things:
The Winter Garden Photograph
Materiality, gesture and happenstance
Seeding a question, and receiving 200+ sprouting responses
A powerful collection of essays contributed by a multitude of British contemporary photo curators and historians
Referenced in this episode
A Photograph Never Stands Alone by Teju Cole
Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs by Sally Mann
Memories, Dreams and Reflections by Carl Jung