Substack #2: Photograph as evidence and invention and the longing that lives in between.

Self Portrait as Dad in 1986, Photographed by Alyssa Marzolf DeWitt, 2008.

Join me as I go on a photographic exploration in constructing memories of my dad from evidence, and the therapeutic effect a camera has on grief and longing after death.

In 2008, the summer before I started my MFA program (and brand new to Chicago), I began making self-portraits as my father. He had passed away when I was 9 months old, and in his absence I eventually found myself searching for ways to construct the memories I could never have. Through the act of photographing myself in his likeness, I wasn’t just creating images: I was reaching for a closeness that life had denied me.