I have previously blogged on the theme of images of transient attachments. In this update I am focussing on portraits of adults who still have their childhood attachments.
The photograph below was taken when I accompanied my friend Jodie to a hospital appointment and was surprised and moved when I found out she’d also brought along her childhood doll Emma for support. I love the juxtaposition of Jodie in her sophisticated black lace designer lingerie and the doll dressed in tomboy dungarees. To me the doll’s worn feet and the plaster on Jodie’s arm also contribute to a sense of vulnerability and fragility.
When my elder son Rafi was a toddler I took this portrait of him. We had been staying at his great aunt’s apartment in Tel Aviv. He was not posing, just relaxing on a hot sultry day with his plastic sword and teddy:
Teddy has hitherto survived the decluttering of moving home several times. Here are Rafi and teddy in the present day:
On hearing about my project my friend Daniela told me she still had her childhood teddy. I asked whether she had any old images of herself with the teddy and she found this old black and white photo from the early 1960s:
Here she is at home; the portrait was taken earlier this year:
And finally a portrait of my friend Jacqui with her cherished teddy which fuses her childhood and adult selves:
