project 52 / week 22 / hologram

As this project started, I knew I would run out of ideas quickly because the goal is to get better at visual narratives and storytelling. So I called for outside input and asked family and friends to supply prompts. When I heard this suggestion, 22/52, I was very skeptical and a little unsure if I was capable.

Hologram.

It seemed like a very far stretch from my style and I’d need to fiddle around in photoshop to create a believable effect. Luckily, school is out for the summer so I had extra time. On a drive, an idea came to me. I’ve always been interested in timelines, multiple universes, alternate realities, etc. And it is summer… So we go back to August 6th, 2024 with 218/365 “the girl who grew from flowers”.

218/365 // *the girl who grew from flowers*

The idea for 218/365 was to have my niece be a water flower girl who wasn’t quite of this world, this timeline, this reality. I used double exposure techniques to infuse flowers in the foreground and upon her as if she leaves them wherever she goes. The persona of the girl who grew from flowers (and kind of Ellen too) is that she is pure, innocent. She’s tied to nature (flowers) and water. She grew from flowers and flowers sprout behind her as she moves through the world. She leaves things better than they were. She knows more than she lets on, but continually wanders the world looking for a place to fit. People try to get to her but she’s just out of reach, among the water and tangled in flowers.

So now you know the backstory of the girl who grew from flowers… I had so many images I loved from this little shoot with her. But I hadn’t really done anything with them yet. And I thought, what if I “hologram” into her world. This hologram girl grew from something less than flowers. She grew a little darker. I was a little unsure if the hologram girl is visiting, suddenly appearing, or getting pulled into the girl who grew from flowers’ world.

Is it an older version of her coming back in time?
Is it an alternate version of her?
Is it another reality and the stitching has come undone? Allowing small fragments to wilt so that the two worlds or realities are fading and blurring, spilling into each other.
Either way, both girls exist, and they exist in the company of water. And now, perhaps each other.

For many reasons, this was a very vulnerable shoot for me and the friend who gave me the prompt was enlisted to help me photograph the vision. So I’m not sure I can really take full credit. I know I can’t. But alas, the vision has come to life. Perhaps in 20 or so years, the girl who grew from flowers will get another visit.