Anabelle Schattens Wet-Collodion
The ultimate form of confinement is not so much the walls that bound us, but the darkness that shrouds the mind, the fog that weaves between thoughts, disturbing the clarity of being.
These sensations felt during confinement became for me the genesis of a poignant photographic ritual.
Every day, in our small enclosed courtyard, at the same time, the time when the light sets faces aflame, I set up my view camera. This act of taking pictures became a sacred moment, offering us an escape, a fleeting sense of freedom.
The wet collodion process, with its slowness, the discipline it demands, and its quirks too, subjected us to waiting. It was when the plate was finally ready, capturing the soul for a heartbeat in imposed stillness, that moods were unveiled.
The children, barometers of the spirit and the heart, oscillate between exuberant participation and lethargic disinterest.
Sometimes they engaged in the play of posing with infectious enthusiasm, at other times boredom overtook them, their forced smiles sketching palpable shadows of tension.
These photographs thus bear everlasting witness to a delicate dance with time and emotions.
