Page 94 - Masters
P. 94
master
ELLIE bROWN
Native of Boston, USA. Lives and works in Ulsan, South korea
SEARCH THE ARTIST ONLINE www.elliebrown.com / www.flickr.com/photos/elliebrown
LAMENTATIONS IN LIMINAL STATES
The liminal state (in ritual) is characterized by ambiguity, and indeterminacy.
One’s sense of identity dissolves to some extent, bringing about
disorientation. Ellie Brown photographs these states, as they exist in the
mindset of her sisters in transition between childhood and young adulthood.
These in-between states can feel excruciatingly painful. It is difficult to be
in-between jobs, in-between relationships, and it is especially hard to be
in-between childhood and adulthood, a time when the self is trying to find
solid ground.
Ellie Brown, camera in hand, stands witness to these dark corridors as she
photographs the emotional, intellectual, and physical states her sisters are
going through; the hallways girls trespass in search of the authentic self. Ellie
Brown, intimates, “when my sisters entered my life, I was going through some
very rough pre-adolescent years. I had lost all sense of self-confidence due to
mean female friends and male teasing... I strongly believe that the timing of
their coming into my life during those years has everything to do with when
I started photographing them and why I’ve continued for ten years.”
Perhaps Ellie Brown trains her lens on her sisters in order to discover the
trajectory of her own path, the path many girls walk in a culture like ours that
teaches young girls to disappear; to starve themselves of their own identity,
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masters of today