peevish mama

Photographer Kevin Trageser features these haunting photographs found in an album near a flooded home in the Ninth Ward. I imagine he took pictures of the pictures, stepping in to preserve something that is visibly vanishing by virtue of moisture, heat, chemical processes. Looking at these photos, it’s as if the reverse of developing is happening. The images are receding, reverting to the primordial ooze from which we came. The members of this family, who once stood proud and still for the camera, are slowly being swallowed up by the same water that inevitably soaked and ruined life as they knew it. I am struck by the quirk in the decomposition process that rendered the couple above ironically festive in a yellow party hat and flirty teal hair ribbon. And the couple below – were they cutting their wedding cake? If you look carefully, you can see a glass of white wine at the edge of the table. Did she ever remember to pick it up after she set it down in that vanishing moment?

Disquieting. Beautiful. And so very sad. Check out the rest here.