During COVID-19, I was separated from my former fiancé by border restrictions and travel bans between Canada and the UK. I experienced an array of emotions. This life event prompted me to look for representations of border in our built environment. What started off as a search for physical and internal representation of borders led me to discover something more minute and focused: scars, stains, cracks and fractures. Upon close observation, there are unique patterns and marks formed by these “imperfections”. I decided to explore this perspective through the medium of photography.

In contrast to a written account, which depends on its complexity of thought, reference and vocabulary, a photograph holds one language for all. In Susan Sontag’s book “Regarding the Pain of Others”, she argues that “photographs are a means of making “real” (or “more real”) matters that the privileged and the merely safe might prefer to ignore” (Sontag, 2003, p. 9). Her point of reference was war photos, but this idea can be more broadly extended to to other subject matters as well. Scars, stains, cracks and fractures are often given a negative connotation or not discussed because the majority see them as a deviation from the “norm” and therefore less than perfect. Some may even regard this subject matter with derision or pain. However, upon close observation, and removing the subject of observation from the nearby context, I see originality and beauty in these imperfections.

Photographs has the advantage of uniting two contradictory features: their inbuilt objectivity and their innate point of view. (Sontag, 2003). These images of scars, stains, cracks and fractures leave an original imprint that can’t be reproduced. A unique mark. This medium and by extension this series of photos has the potential not to evoke but to show.

Reference:

Sontag, S. (2003). Regarding the pain of others. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.