| Title | River Elegy |
| Artist / Creator | Sylvie Redmond |
| Artist's Nationality | United States |
| Place of Publication | Minneapolis MN |
| Publication Date | 2024 |
| Author of Text | Sylvie Redmond |
| Process / Technique | Laser printer on Mohawk Superfine Eggshell Paper |
| Number of Images | 158 |
| Structure / Binding | Link stitch binding |
| Medium / Materials | Scanned original Polaroid photos alongside poetry |
| Paper Stock | Mohawk Superfine Eggshell |
| Number of Pages | 320 |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 5.5 x 8.5 x 1 inches |
| Edition Size | Limited edition of 3 |
| Signed & Numbered | Unsigned, unnumbered |
River Elegy by Sylvie Redmond
When my father was diagnosed with an unexpected and aggressive cancer, I found myself grasping at the remaining moments with him. I began photographing the river that cuts through my city. I photographed obsessively, every day standing in the same spot on the bridge and recording the weather, date, and time on the back of each Polaroid. They became an accounting of days. As they accumulated, the Polaroids began to feel symbolic of the passage of time–each one as unique as the remaining moments I had with my father. Altogether, the Polaroids span 648 days. My father died almost exactly a year from the date of my first photograph, so they represent my last year with him and my first year without.
River Elegy is a meditation on the biological rhythms of nature, time, and grief. It combines these daily photographs with forty-four poems I wrote before and after my father died. Together, they become a physical embodiment of the grieving process. The images of the river move forward relentlessly with fidelity to the seasons and sequence. However, grief, its own river, is less predictable; it runs through a long valley, and at every turn, a new landscape is revealed.
Artist Bio
Sylvie Redmond (b. 1980) is an interdisciplinary artist and mother working in lens-based media, alternative photographic processes, and text. Her work investigates personal narratives dealing with themes of family, motherhood, time, and memory. After an early start, Redmond returned to photography in 2019 following a 14-year career in education. She holds a Certificate from the International Center of Photography in New York City (2023), a MA in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2010), and a BA in Human Development and Environmental Studies from Colby College (2003). She is a 2024 graduate of the Photobook Long Term Program through the Penumbra Foundation and Image Threads Collective. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including The Griffin Museum of Photography, The Houston Center for Photography, Praxis Gallery, Hera Gallery, and FotoNostrum Barcelona. Redmond was a 2023 Photolucida Critical Mass finalist, an overall winner of the 20th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, and an Editors’ Pick for the both LensCulture’s 2022 Portrait Awards and the Home 2021 International Photography Prize. She has received several honorable mentions at multiple juried shows and has been featured in online publications including Lenscratch, Vanity Fair: Italia, and The Photo Review. Redmond lives and works in Minneapolis, MN with her family.