Check the Mail for Her Letter explores memory and loss after my grandmother succumbed to dementia in 2018. Two streams of visuals weave in and out of one another: a collection of modern photographs in the months leading up to and following her passing, and the other a series of vernacular portraits dating back to her childhood. The series moves in and out of time and place where gouache and wax pencil are used to obscure elements in reimagined photographs that represent decaying memories.
A letter, never mailed, becomes my own evidence while unraveling an eerie string of events that led me to wonder about the space where reality and delusion intermingle. The last time I saw my grandmother her mind briefly slipped as she insisted she had to go to the farm to check the mail. Could she have possibly known that I would be sitting here today with an unsent letter; words that would have been my last communication before losing her completely?
Biography
Amy Parrish is a multidisciplinary artist and writer based in West Bengal, India. Commercially, she built a career in portrait photography before shifting to a personal art practice heavily influenced by the artist’s hand (alternative photo processes, mixed media, sculpture, etc.). Her work has been internationally exhibited, published and awarded and she ran ground operations for The Light Space photo programs in both India and Thailand. Currently Amy writes portfolio reviews and is a Contributing Writer for LensCulture, a global platform for contemporary photographers.
