(Mama Said...), Lost & Found: Doll Portfolio, 16.5 × 22 inches, Not editioned, whole portfolio sold for $40,000 or sold individually for $3,500

My Square Foot Studio work has increasingly changed what and how I see.

For years I focused on the marks of time and elements on the natural and manmade

environments. Large and small objects carried their changing marks of time over the

years as I returned to certain locations.

The limits on travel resulting from the pandemic forced me to work in very different

ways. At first, I pushed back against the restrictions but as I watched the light moving

through its daily path across our sun porch, an idea formed. I “borrowed” a stem from

the vase, fully intending to return it but instead, I photographed it up close until the last

petal fell away from the stem.

I saw these objects as larger-than-life-sized, isolated against a solid black background,

to be examined closely. Making such large prints required a steep (and expensive)

learning curve but the final prints made it worth it.

When traveling was possible again, I brought my Square Foot Studio. Rephotographing

the dolls in this way resulted in this portfolio. Isolating the objects in a neutral

background, using only natural light, my objective was for the viewer to see them from

across the room and be pulled in by eyes, just as I am.

The eyes are described to me as strange, haunting, and scary. I continue seeking to

understand their hold on me and others. With more questions than answers I know I

have more work to do with this subject.

Tillman Crane

2024