"Don't let me disappear"
-J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye
Cruz, A. (2003) "Afterword".
Don't Let Me Disappear, 80-81.
Amanda Cruz considers artist Slater Bradley's series, don't let me disappear an intimate look at the young artist's relationships, his vulnerability, and the fleetingness of life. This series, which includes photographs taken from 1997 to 2003 features several key motifs including hot-air balloons, beached whales, and butterfly catchers. The beached whales are shot in the same warm, romantic light as the rising balloons, and stand at opposite ends of the spectrum from eachother. While both suggest transient moments, the whales' remaining hours of life and the balloon's inflation, one is a sign of defeat and the other triumph. Cruz notes Bradley's comparison of the dying whales to Icarus, who ventured too far and was felled by the sun. Vulnerability and precariousness are shown in the artist's self portraits. In both of the images of himself, he is in hospital garb, shown after a procedure to correct his breathing; he too is fragile and alone. The rest of the images in his series are of personal relationships. The photos of friends and love interests are imbued with the same feeling of transience when grouped along with the aforementioned work. Smiling eyes meet the camera lens, but will soon look away.
Hopefully, that same sense of impermanence lingers in the series I am creating. People are caught in transition from ignorance to knowledge as they begin to react to what is around them. Their gestures, as well as their opinions, are not fully formed. Bradley's photos of dying whales are macabre and beautiful for similar reasons. Bystanders collect around the beached whales but are unable to assist; they just watch the mammals' last moments pass.
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