Joann Harrah - From “Into Paradise”

Joann Harrah

We comprehend and embrace life as stories and narratives. These narratives often define our attributed roles or our own perceptions. I’m interested in narrative and its relationship to the past, present and future. It creates multiple lines of possibilities through time and space. It allows time travel or parallel worlds to exist at the same time. And the past is anything but a definite and stable history. These photographs are planned and composed in advance. Through carefully selected clothing, cosmetics, props (found and handmade) and setting I have attempted to make time travel more tangible to the viewer. I’ve chosen the 1930s and taken photos of myself in the fashion of that time, as both the woman and the man. While the work remains charming and sincere, the subversion often leads to something surprisingly discerning or even dubious.