Synopses & Reviews
Ghosts is a wondrous look at our relationship with death. In her quest, Tuckerman has traveled to India, Mexico, Brazil and everywhere that “spirit demons relentlessly snap at our souls.” Along the way, Ghosts explores half-memories, night shadows and ancestral myths in a style that encompasses literal, mystical and metaphorical elements.
Ghosts is sumptuously printed in tritone, with 92 black-and-white infrared photographs, fully capturing Tuckerman’s surreal and painterly style. Invoking visitations, possessions, curses, incantations and celebrations, these images hauntingly describe the fear of the Grim Reaper as it perpetuates the ritualization of death.
Here the ghosts linger. In these particular environments I sense my own shadows and the shadows of others. There is my strong connection with the history of a place and with the land. I confront death that has many different guises, death by natural causes, death of war and genocide and the displacement suffered in flight from real or metaphorical death.—Jane Tuckerman
Jane Tuckerman has been a photographer and educator for 35 years. Her interest in death rituals began with an assignment to photograph in Varanasi, India, in 1985, when she was head of the photography program at Harvard University. Now teaching at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, Tuckerman’s photographs are in major collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
James Dickey (1923-1997) was best known for his novel Deliverance and also wrote approximately 20 volumes of poetry. He was widely known for celebrating both the sublime and the ordinary aspects of our lives. Dickey served in World War II, and in his later years, was poet in residence and professor of English at the University of South Carolina.
Synopsis
These haunting images explore the ritualization of death in various countries including India, Mexico and Brazil.
About the Author
Jane Tuckerman was the head of the photography program at Harvard University from 1978 -1986 and now teaches at The Art Institute of Boston. Her photographs have been exhibited and collected throughout the world.