WINDOWS TO THE PAST

PAMELA HANLAN

// Pam came to photography late in life. Based in the Eastern United States, she was busy with family life until quite recently, when she discovered a talent for photography that she never suspected she had. Pam´s quirky portraits are meant to be reminiscent of the portraits of Dutch masters from long ago. They are at once amusing and refreshingly different from standard portrait photos.

We are pleased to share a set of her unusual self-portraits and portraits. Pam modestly says about herself as an artist, “It has taken my quite a while to consider myself a photographer. In my lifetime I have been daughter, sister, wife, mother, empty nester, grandmother, great-grandmother, widow and partner. Never in those years was I a photographer. Frankly, except for family memories I was just too busy.” It was only in the past five years that she discovered a part of herself that she did not know existed. She discovered an outlet for the ideas and concepts that have been brewing in her brain for quite some time. “Some would say I am stubborn. I would say determined. Some have said that I am quirky, but only by those who say they love me. My goal is to be the best that I can be,” she adds.

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

William Faulkner

What draws you to art?

“Honestly, I didn’t know I was drawn to the arts until photography became part of my life. There was so little I understood. I knew that I loved to go to museums and art galleries. I just didn’t know why I appreciated and longed for this input into my brain.”

What do you like best about this photographic project?

“I have always been impressed by the old Dutch Masters. And I am inspired daily by browsing through galleries of wonderful photographers online.“

In the past year Pam moved to rural West Virginia to stay safe from the pandemic, be near friends and to be with her partner. In that year she sorted through a lot of her past and her memories. Also in that year she and her partner transformed an old woodshop into a studio. This series is a compilation of Pam´s memories of her past. If we could go back in time and look through the windows of the past, who would we see? What would they be doing? And would they be peering back?

Click on the photos to see a larger version.