Meet Me In Montgomery
We both enjoy using the risograph printer and felt that we wanted to use the risograph printer to create a nostalgic effect and from the movie, we enjoyed the use of light and fragmentation.
Through a process of ideation, we came to the idea of found photographs. Searching through different thrift stores, we found a lot of old photographs.
We decided to scan these photos and risograph print them using the four color separated method. This process was very time consuming but went by quicker through digitally printing them instead of using the scan method on the printer. While printing, we used offset printing on some of the photos and further distorted them to reflect the idea of forgetting.
Thinking of our installation, we aimed to create some sort of projection onto the photographs in order to further achieve a more nostalgic feeling. From the guidance of our instructor, James Grady, we decided to borrow an old slide projector from the school library. This felt connected with our idea, and we purchased a lot of old film slides from the 1970s.
The title “Meet Me In Montgomery” is a reference to a line from the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, where Joel Barish and Clemintine Kruczynski tell each other to “meet [each other] in Montauk”, which is where the two first met. When their memories are fully erased, the two have no recollection of each other but Joel finds Clemintine in Montauk beach. Even as we try to repress a memory, the emotion rebels against the action of repression.
Our aim for this project is to emphasize the importance of memories and what they hold to us. Memories can be in the form of objects around us, pieces of writing, and as we both love, photographs.
As we created this project, we hoped to contextualize a lot of old photographs from the thrift store. Life of the characters from the movie, it felt like these memories were being erased in a way. In re-printing them, we aim to bring them back to life and give them a new place and meaning.
Risograph photo installation
Publication of risograph photographs