You Can Never Step In The Same River Twice.

This is my complete photo book sequencing and layout for my book named ‘ You Can Never Step In the Same River Twice’. The title was influenced my philosopher Heraclitus who came up with the quote ‘no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same and he’s not the same man.’ This can be translated to a persons life and how its constantly changing and at no point is it ever the same.

Evaluation:

The book starts with images of my younger brothers hands which connects to the idea of children touching and feeling when they are young to explore the world around them. I continue with the ghost image to integrate the initial concept of lack of identity and how I felt lost and intimidated in my new extended family. The two blood images link to how my new family began to merge into my existing family and how I now had to call a random women my ‘step-mum.’ This whole arrangement went against my parents teachings of stranger danger. The tree branches are seen at the start, middle and end of my book to symbolise old hauntings coming back and how memories aren’t forgotten easily, the best and the worst are always remembered. I still remember life before I was introduced to my new family, when I lived in a one bedroom flat with my mum and a bungalow with my dad. The archival images with fingerprints for faces are next and represent a state of confusion and not belonging as a child I felt constantly in the middle. Next is the mirror which again signifies my lose of purpose by not having a relfection, i couldnt see myself fitting in to my family. The reason the mirrors outside is because I didn’t feel that I had a permanent home as I spend most of my time moving from house to house. The second colour image of my bloody hands was used to continue the dark and eerie theme of the book. On the next page I included an image of rippled water to go with the the title to represent the river I was floating in. The birth mark on my arm was included to create a personal feel to my book. After the second tree photo is another hand image which links to my idea of repetiton as well as change, my life at the time was unpreditable. When I was younger I used to suck my thumb and twiddle my fingers when I was anxious or tired, so my hands were a comfort blanket. I included another mirror image but this time it was leaning against my house, as if I was on the outside looking in. The next image was of my brother looking under his bed, which was a reinactment of me as a child and how I used to check for monsters under my bed before I would go to sleep. I included another hand image and archival fingerprint image then my heart birthmark as I feel it’s a big part of me physically and mental, it’s one thing I can’t change about myself and that I don’t want to change. Following from that I used an image of my handprint on a foogy mirror to mimic childish behaviour. Then I put in an image of my brother covering his ears, at some points my parents argued a lot and it was a signifcant memory that I thought I should include in my narrative. The empty box symbolised moving houses and how weird it is that you can fit all your worldly goods in a cardboard box. Another archive image, then a final lack of identity photo that is of my brother with a bucket on his head. I used a final tree image and finished as I started with a hand image.

Overall I am thorughly pleased with my final outcome, it connected to the theme of liberation and occupation in a contemporary way. The divorce was a time of change and struggle for me and my family, which in some elements is similar to the time of the occupation. At the start of my project I had worries as to how I was going to execute my images whilst keeping to the theme of lack of identity. I knew from the start I wanted my book to be engimatic, with images that were subjective yet minimal. When I first explored Chris McKenney’s work that gave me inspiration, so I could start the momentum of producing my own photos. I feel that I have displayed creativity within my book, using images which involved setting a scene like my blood photoshoot where I had my camera over my sink on self timer and poured red food colouring over my hands. Also my fingerprint images where I painted my tips and pressed them onto card, cut them out and put them on old archival family photos. My outcomes have provided evidence that I have the ability to experiment and explore different concept and ideas within my own work. I have created an aesthically pleasing photobook as well as outlining my ability to display a clear narrative through my sequencing. The essay was a well thought addition to my images as I discussed relevant themes such as identity and movements like surrealism, which I used throughout my book.