Mrs. Benifield
Patricia Carr Morgan found this 19th-century photograph of Mrs. Benifield, her great-grandmother, in her father’s garage. It captured the artist’s imagination and led her to rummage through her studio looking for objects and memorabilia that connected with her image. These Mrs. Benifield montages are a record of what she found.
The photographs of Mrs. Benifield captured the artist’s imagination, and the mimetic illusion of this posed photograph became “material” to be used in new ways. She found this 19th century photograph in my father’s garage, she never heard any stories about her, so none of the photographs reflect her personal character or life events.
In 2009, Raphael Rubinstein described a style of abstract painting that intentionally looks slapdash, casual, and unfinished as “Provisional”, but the literal meaning of the word applies best to photography. The abandoned photograph of Mrs. Benifield, like all photographs, is “provisional” and can be manipulated to express many different ideas or feelings. The transformation of any image is limited only by choice.
Archival pigment ink
Vellum
5” x 6” and 5” x 7”
