Four years, three deaths, sweaty armpits and a fetus
Sarah Carlier
The Hague
132 pages
23 x 30 cm
Soft cover
ISBN: 978-90-816624-1-3
Four years, three deaths, sweaty armpits and a fetus is a fragmented tale in a book from the life of the Romanian family Fuliash, who I became acquainted with fourteen years ago. The quick succession of events – death, new life and a marriage, all happening in a short period of time – were the reason for me to make this project. The result is a story about the uncertainty and beauty of life, with my Romanian family in the lead. Specific for this project but also to my earlier work is the combination between realistic -and metaphorical fictional situations translated in photos, video (stills) and text.
“The project Four years, three deaths, sweaty armpits and a fetus is about how we, as human beings, deal and react on big changes in life that we can’t control.
The project deals with the true lives of a Romanian family who are very dear to me. In Four years, three deaths, sweaty armpits and a fetus Ioanna and Florica Fuliash, the two remaining women of the family, are in the lead. Within a period of four years, Florica lost her husband and both parents. While she is in grief, her daughter Ioanna finds love, becomes a mother and gets married. These absurd, quick successions of Large Emotional Events are at the very heart of my tale.
In Four years…I searched for an interaction between the actual facts and my own imagination. This arose because I wasn’t present during all the major family life changings. In my visual story the metaphorical fictional and realistic images merge as well as the use of different kind of media. The combination of photography and video complements to another ‘viewing process’ and rhythm. It contributes to a certain time experience, context and emotion – elements that are important for the narrative and scope of the story.
The presentation of this project is a book and a corresponding exhibition, the silence that is private to the book becomes alive by the several video projections. Only one photograph (a car wreck, blown up) from the book is shown. The videos, the photograph, accompanied by a viewing copy of the book, highlight the story from a different perspective and force the viewer to make associations to eventually – if one wishes – trace reality.”
– Sarah Carlier
Sarah Carlier – Four years, three deaths, sweaty armpits and a fetus from dutchdocaward on Vimeo.
