rebecca copper
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SX-70 Rachael, 2020-2021
During the isolation and uncertainty of COVID-19, Rachael Anderson and I created a care space at her family’s orchard using the Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera. The camera was a tool that helped catalyze development in our relationship with each other and the land her parents have tended to for over a decade. The collaborative photographic process that emerged between Rachael and me is a socially engaged artwork.
In the fall of 2020, Roya Amirsoleymani and I discussed joy and the importance of friendship, which often gets dismissed in contrast to romantic relationships. After speaking with Roya, I wrote about the photography excursions with Rachael in an email newsletter detailing the importance of platonic love and the unplanned collaborative photography practice. Here is an excerpt from the newsletter:
"Over the past few months, I've spent much time with my friend Rachael at her family's farm. She's usually painting when I show up. We exchange updates on our lives and talk about problematic systems serving a small group of people. We wander into the acreages of the land her family farms. We wander through fields of flowers, okra, and weeds. We crawl through forests of bamboo and pumpkin patches. We set up our cameras, usually trading off use of a tripod; we take our photographs.
Rachael introduced me to Polaroid's SX-70 Land camera. I found it surprising how beautiful the photos can be from an instant camera. I've been obsessed since she showed me how to take double exposures on my One Step Polaroid camera. She's pushed me back towards film photography, which has made me feel fulfilled in a way I haven't felt in a very long time.
And it isn't just about the photographs. This space that Rachael and I have created through our friendship in a time of quarantine - the platonic exchange of love, support, and encouragement is where the real beauty lies. I feel as if we have traveled back in time. It's as if we are in our youth, as children, wandering through the land with an intimacy between each other, our cameras, and the natural world. It's a world we fabricate with a safeness that has been hard to find elsewhere."