ARTIST STATEMENT: CLARE WELSH

These photographs are excerpts of a long poem I wrote on over-exposed, under-exposed, or double-exposed Fuji Film.  In the world of photography, the word “exposure” is commonplace, but I want to dig to its vulnerable, violent root: the French verb esposer: “to lay bare.” My goal is to express something truthful using simple tools: a bare bone, a bare white pen, and a bare feeling shot through a $50 instant camera. The images have helped me expose my dusty corners; they are my public diary, pieces of what I hold close.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Clare Welsh is a writer and photographer based in New Orleans. A graduate of the MFA writer’s workshop at the University of New Orleans, her work has appeared in McSweeny’s Internet Tendencies, Southern Glossary, Offbeat Magazine, Poets Reading The News, NPR, WHIV New Orleans, and other places on air, in print, and online. Her chapbook ‘Chimeras’ is available through Finishing Line Press.