Twinsburg, OH, USA. 6x7 medium format film photography.
The International Twins Fest annually attracts twins, triplets, quadruplets, and their families to celebrate the extraordinary bond they share. Set against the backdrop of celebratory energy akin to an American county fair, the festival is a unique space of both spectacle and intimacy.
I see a man, probably a father, sitting on a bench, a strangely solitary figure in a gathering of multiples. He’s hunched, eyes closed, biting into a popsicle. My approach immediately breaks the spell of his sugary reverie, as I invite myself into his singular world. With as few words a possible, we recreate what I saw a few moments ago. I want to get back to that place with him, where I witnessed his existence with that cherry popsicle.
For me, portraiture is choreographing a pose that bears witness to the moment before, or the moment before that. An awkward vulnerability arises in asking a person to perform an act that was once natural but is now stagecraft. Suddenly the unconscious movement that lured me in, transforms into a self-conscious gesture before the camera.
