Poignant Pics no. 84: On Ammandine Nabarra's Artist Book, "It Doesn't Hurt Any More"
“If your heart is broken, make art with the pieces.”
It Doesn’t Hurt Anymore artist book (images are on a carousel, click to advance.)
I love photography that pushes the boundaries of the medium, especially when it underscores the concept. That dates back to my days as a community college student. In 2001, I attended a public lecture at UH Manoa with a friend enrolled in the UH MFA program. The speaker, Enrique Martinez Celaya, was serving as a Distinguished Visiting Artist that semester, running concurrently with the terrific retrospective of his work from 1992-2000 at The Contemporary Museum Hawaii (now defunct.) As he described his use of materials and their meaning in his paintings, the lightbulbs all clicked on in my brain, and that little (well, perhaps big) "aha!" appeared...." Media has mana." That lecture forever changed how I thought about my artmaking process, though a few more years would pass before I had a studio space with enough room to explore using media to underscore my ideas.
I am always thrilled when I meet another photographer who thinks about their work this way. I found Amandine Nabarra's work several months ago when she and Ann Mitchell wrote about my Toxic Tales project. In talking with her and looking at her work, I found her a kindred spirit in ideas of the nature of media and the boundaries of photography. I soon learned that Nabarra has been pushing these boundaries in material and the meaning of a photograph for years. Nabarra typically works with multiple images to frame stories rather than singular photos.
Recently, I ran across her book It Doesn't Hurt Anymore. I was intrigued. Who uses polymer clay to make photobooks? That is something that never crossed my mind.
It Doesn't Hurt Anymore is a curious work, drenched deeply in its materiality. Molded from photopolymer clay, encased in blue transparent vinyl, it is translucent and heavier than most artist photobooks. The photographs are transferred onto the clay. An ambiguous story focuses on the journey of resilience and healing that follows misfortune, and the photographs transition from monotone to color to highlight that. There is also intentionality to Nabarra's use of negative space, translucency, and layering to frame the narrative. The cathartic nature of the work speaks to the kind of work I love most (and hence, make.)
Asked about this work, Nabarra said, "Is it about a broken heart? The loss of a loved one? A difficult time? Eventually, we move on and learn to fly again."
Bravo, Amandine. I look forward to seeing what you do next.
Artist Bio
Amandine Nabarra is a French-born American artist. At the core of her work is a recurring quest: How can we find our common humanity? Her mix-media artist books and installations offer an immersive experience. She shares her life challenges through visual stories that she weaves into innovative structures so she can connect at a visceral level with her audience. See more of her work at https://anpfotos.com.
Author Bio
Diana Nicholette Jeon is an award-winning artist based in Honolulu, HI, who works primarily with lens-based media. Her work has been seen both internationally and nationally in solo and group exhibitions. Jeon holds an MFA from UMBC.