Kevin writes:
The idea to edit one another's work came from a conversation I had with Susan after a photography lecture. Susan said that she had made different edits of my work - opening various windows of images from my website and creating her own groupings - essentially coming up with her own narrative using different bodies of work. I think its a unique opportunity for me to see how others see my work. I welcomed this chance to see what Susan could come up with, see new connections in my work that I might not have considered on my own.
Photographers have to have projects these days, I don't know if its always been that way. I doubt, although I could be wrong, that Josef Koudelka set out on day one to make a book of Gypsies. I would like to think that he made photos, and then eventually he realized he had a cohesive idea in place. Maybe via Susan's edit, I will realize that I don't need to think of working in these rigid projects and I will be taking more photographs out in the world.
And Susan adds:
Unlike a moving picture where your eye has no choice but to follow the lead of the directors, a still image lets you pause and wonder what has happened in the moment before and what will happen next. If a film's sequence is out of order the story might not make sense. In photography one picture placed beside a second can change or enhance the meaning of both.
Like Kevin mentioned, I think we all come up with our own narratives when looking at photographs. I was drawn to certain pictures on Kevin's website that I wanted to see together even though they were not from the same body of work. The images are intuitively chosen and they become a sort of small poem perhaps of my friends work.
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This is Kevin's edit of Susan's work. All images belong to Susan's projects Some Fox Trails in Virginia and By the Grace of God. Tomorrow we will present Susan's edit of Kevin's work.
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Kevin Thrasher lives in Richmond, VA. He received his MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. His work has exhibited in the Northeastern and Southern U.S.
Susan Worsham (b.1969 Virginia, USA) took her first photography class while studying graphic design at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2009 she was nominated for the Santa Fe Prize for Photography and her book "Some Fox Trails In Virginia" won first runner up in the fine art category of the Blurb Photography Book Now International Competition. In 2010 Susan was awarded the first TMC / Kodak Film Grant and was also an artist in residence at Light Work in Syracuse, New York. Susan was named one of Photo District News top 30 Emerging photographers to watch in 2011, and was included in Photolucida’s Critical Mass top 50. Recently her work travelled to China to represent America in the Lishui Photography Festival.