Once Upon a Time

The idea for this project came from Mrs. Wargin who introduced me to polaroid emulsion lifts during my independent study. I was amazed how you could take a polaroid, cut the white edges off, place the photo in water, and, after placing the floating emulsion on a piece of watercolor paper, make a photo look as if it's suspended in water. The movement of the still photos entranced me and I couldn't wait to try it myself. To give the project a personal touch, I decided to use old family photos and turn them into polaroids. I was able to do this using the photo's negatives as well as a Day Lab processor. Since I used negatives in the Day Lab, my polaroids looked as if they were larger versions of the negatives instead of being colored normally. While I was not planning to do this, I decided to roll with this development since it only added to the fairytale feel of the project. From there, I placed each polaroid on watercolor paper using the polaroid emulsion lift process, cut them into clouds, labeled the backs to coordinate with the story / artist statement, and attached them to string and blue wooden sticks, creating a mobile that tells the story of my family, making this project especially personal. 

Once upon a time, there was a king and a queen who fell in love. The king and queen, while happy with their kingdom, decided they needed a family. As a result, three children were born, two princesses and a prince. After that, the king decided they needed a home for their family. The queen, along with her youngest, watched as their castle was built. Once finished, the family moved in and made the castle their home. From that point on, many happy memories were made in the castle. While these memories, like all others, were fleeting, the queen, with all her magic powers, captured each of these moments, all of which hang in front of you now. Now, all you need to do to take a closer look at this fairytale is look to the clouds.