transitional space
Fig.1 Hlatshwayo 2018, Slaghuis
During my research on childhood; trauma and misrepresentation, I discovered Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo's work, Slaghuis. Brought up in a bar in South Africa, it was far from an ideal upbringing. Unsettling and violent, he created the project as a cathartic response to the "uncontrollable violence" he witnessed as a child.
"Thembinkosi had always been fascinated by the idea of communicating your own world visually, and he saw photography as a way of understanding his thoughts about his childhood. " (Kahl 2020)
The article relates the story of Terry Sullivan, writer, who witnessed a mass shooting on a train, he was unable to describe the unmanageable trauma he experienced in words, which as a writer was challenging. "felt as though words had lost their efficacy". He turned to art to explore his memory.
Dr Ursano, The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, comments,
“We know recounting the story can be a valuable part of recovery. It allows us to put the parts and pieces into context, and also to develop meaning from the story. Those elements — the recalling and setting to rest, and putting it in a meaningful context — are part of the recovery process.”
I intend to explore the concept of the photograph as a transitional object, but perhaps more specifically as a transitional space. Jo Martin and Rosy Spence, explore phototherapy in Photography Reader, (Wells et al. 2019). They describe how a frozen moment in time, allows us to examine, and interrogate the event, from a safe distance. Rather like a rollercoaster allows us to safely explore the sensation of falling, without fear of injury.
"They offer us the possibility to objectify and see a separate part of oneself" (cited in Liz Wells et al, 2019).
On his creative process, Thembinkosi comments "It was a space that marked me, and so I created the series from these markings." and "There was an urge to get physical with the image,” he says. “I tend to do it in a violent way.” (cited in Kahl 2020)
Thembinkosi's images are often burned with cigarettes, and marked just as his environment, the process relflecting his location at the time. He remarks, how often his view was obscured when looking through the windows to check on his parents, he explains this is why he removes part of the image, to limit the full scene.
It brings to my mind the child who hides behind his hands, shuts their eyes to limit the trauma.
REFERENCES
KAHL, A. 2024. The real story behind these haunting, beautiful photos, WePresent. Available at: https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/stories/thembinkosi-hlatshwayo-on-photography-and-childhood-trauma (Accessed: 18 August 2024).
SULLIVAN, T. 2018. How I used art to get through trauma, The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/well/how-i-used-art-to-get-through-trauma.html (Accessed: 18 August 2024).
WELLS, L. .2019. The photography reader. London: Routledge. pp.408
FIGURES
Thembinkosi HLATSHWAYO. 2018. Slaghuis. WePresent. [online]. Available at: https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/stories/thembinkosi-hlatshwayo-on-photography-and-childhood-trauma (Accessed: 01 August 2024).