Fly in Amber • Pam Connolly (Limited edition)
2021 - Edition of 50 + 3 Artist Proofs, Clothbound Clamshell Case 5.25" x 7.75" x 2", Blind-embossed Cover with Letterpressed Title Card, Handmade by Datz Books, South Korea, 72 Color Photographs plus one Tipped-in Metallic Print, Photos Printed by the Artist using Archival Pigment Inks.
'Fly in Amber' gathers photographs that tell the story of the last days of childhood and motherhood from the vantage of the emptying nest. Time moves slowly here yet can be seen in the threadbare arm of a chair or the tear in a screen door. These portraits are an offering between mother and daughters. Behind the gaze of both, there is a sense of letting go and making ready for what lies ahead.
The book's eight unbound chapters are housed in a hand-made, clamshell case that invites the viewer into its rooms and gardens, the domestic spaces that hold much meaning. Each chapter consists of an 8-panel accordion structure that allows the viewer to create different image relationships that parse together, like the moving light of day multi-fold stories. On the verso of each unfolded page is a single, large image in counterpoint.
'Fly in Amber' opens with a dedication to Lady Clementina Hawarden, a relatively unknown 19th century photographer who created hundreds of evocative portraits of her daughters, pulling back the drapes in their London townhouse to let in the light.
