Frank
Hamrick

"Scars"

I have found the handmade book to be a favorable alternative to the traditional method of exhibiting photographs on the wall. Handmade books do not require costly matting and framing to be presentable. The handmade book can convey ideas in ways other mediums cannot. The viewer has an intimate relationship with the book by holding it, feeling its textures and turning its pages, instead of just standing across the room staring at it. Additionally, the handmade book is its own piece of work and is not to be confused with a monograph, a book that often reproduces two or three-dimensional works of art that should be seen in person.

If you were to think of a photograph in the same way you consider a single song, then a handmade book is similar to an entire album of music complete with cover art and liner notes. The handmade book allows me to combine imagery and text and incorporate materials, like handmade paper, and processes, such as staining and letterpress printing, to create unique or limited works of art.

Scars is a limited edition book featuring six photographs of scarred people, plants and places. A scar is strong subject matter to photograph. It is not just an image of something. It is, on multiple levels, an image about something. A scar is an effect, which inspires us to ask what the cause was. A scar can also be a metaphor. So while viewers may wonder what created the scar, they might also think about moments that have left impressions in their lives.

The photograph Mom's Scar shows marks remaining from the surgery my mom had after falling and breaking her wrist. But it goes beyond simply showing a healing wound to also suggesting a larger symbolism for both weakness and survival. The relationship I have with my parents has evolved over time. I am now able to understand they are human beings just like everyone else and should not be expected to have all the answers just because they are parents.

Every copy in the edition of Scars is made unique by the coffee stained paper used for the front and back covers. The stain on one cover may be straight across and resemble the high water mark from a flood, while the stain on another cover may rise and fall and suggest the distant horizon of a wide-open desert. Stains are like scars in that they are seen as blemishes and people want to know the story behind a stain just as they would ask about the cause of a scar.

The pieces I make have particular meaning to me but I understand other people will see them in their own way. My photographs are not necessarily created to illustrate or provide answers. If anything, I would like for my images to generate more questions. I do not see them as endpoints, but rather starting places where I give viewers ideas to ponder and allow room for their imagination to create the rest of the story.