"Self Portrait Where the Casket Was" fts that day won't never come

I can’t remember how I came upon Rachel Growden‘s work. But I do remember it struck me quite a bit at a time when I was making pictures as my grandfather was slipping into ill health. Her work has sort of stayed with me because she was making pictures I didn’t have the courage to, or rather, I couldn’t face myself even with my camera to cope. As I went through her series that day won’t never come, a lot of thoughts began stirring up inside me. How honest the pictures are, how poignant and direct in vision they are. How not only they reminded me of the South but could remind anyone of the loss of a loved one in their hometown. the day won’t never come centers around family, the metaphorical presence of loved ones, and the struggles and ominous coping of life and death. I got to chat with Rachel recently about it all and I think our conversation was long overdue.

Empty Stretch: Tell us a little about yourself.

Rachel Growden: Well, I go to school in Nashville — Watkins College of Art, Design, and Film.

ES: When did you get started in photography?

RG: It’s kind of hard to say. My dad is a graphic designer and took some photography classes in college, so I think I probably picked up his old camera he used in school when i was pretty young, like maybe eight or something? The photos I took then were awful though – a lot of flowers and pictures of my feet.

ES: Sometimes I think those pictures are necessary to grow and get where you’re going. I’m sure a lot of us have those hidden away somewhere.

RG: Yeah, they are pretty embarrassing.

ES: Has living in Nashville changed your photography any?

RG: I don’t think it has. Being exposed to more work through school has influenced what I shoot, but I don’t usually even photograph in Nashville. Maybe I am missing out on some good stuff in the city, but I like to go back home to my parents’ house and my grandma’s house to shoot. It’s more out in the country and that’s where most of the things that are important to me are.

"Marylene Holding Paul Allen's Hat" fts that day won't never come

ES: It’s been a while now since I came upon your work, “that day won’t never come” – I discovered them shortly after I ended shooting a project about my grandfather’s death. Naturally I can relate to it very well. Can you talk a little about how you approached such a heavy subject?

RG: Yeah, making photographs just seemed like sort of a natural coping method for me. Also, I think I have sort of a fear of forgetting things and I really felt compelled to preserve a lot of the things that were going on at that time. Once I started that series things just seemed to develop intuitively. It wasn’t really planned out or anything but connections just developed naturally within the photos that I was taking. Maybe that is kind of vague…The first image in the series, for example, is two signs on an old fence and one of them says “Prepare to Meet Thy God.” Those signs are across from my grandparents’ driveway and initially, I just took that photo because I thought the colors were nice. After my grandpa died though, I thought it was interesting that that sign was the first one his body passed. Then, a few days later when we were on our way to bury him, I saw the same sign but a much larger version leaning up against the fence of a junkyard right before the cemetery. So, that’s the last image in the series. They really felt like sort of foretelling bookends to the path my grandpa’s body took

"Prepare to Meet Thy God" fts that day won't never come

ES: Very interesting. It’s almost like the camera and the photograph remind one of death instantly, you know?

RG: Yeah, death and memory are definitely inherent in the medium. I think that is a lot of why I’m drawn to it.

ES: I think that with both of our projects, the camera sort of removed us once from reality. I know I could never face as big a sadness as death of a loved one is without my camera for security to sort of validate life while remember death.

So the picture of the “Prepare to Meet Thy God” signs bookending the series reminded me very much of my home in the South. Do you feel that this project or any of your thought processes are set in the milieu of the South?

RG: Yes, I think about the South all the time. Southern gothic literature and country music (the good kind, not the bad kind) are influential for me. I don’t think it is as evident in the photos I have been working on more recently, but it’s always lingering. I don’t know… I just get really excited about the mythology of the region and the sadness that goes along with it. It’s kind of hard for me to articulate because there are so many things that interest me about it.

It’s just what I’ve always known and have finally come to appreciate.

"Sarah With Grandaddy's Peppermint Sticks" fts that day won't never come

ES: I think Flannery O’Connor said it best when she said the South was “Christ-haunted.”

RG: She says so many good things. I did a series on the Christ-haunted South.

ES: It’s certainly a complex history down there, even pre-Civil War. I’ve been wrestling lately with how we as Southern artists can deal with it, or even if we have to. Either way, I think we’ve been given a rich and sordid history.

What have been your other influences, photographic and non-photographic?

RG: My grandma, the Carter Family; I really love Susan Worsham’s work. My friend Courtney Greenlee is influenced a lot by the South as well. You should check her work out. (http://courtneygreenlee.com/)

ES: I sure will check her out!

To wrap up here, I don’t want to take up all your time today. What’s on the horizon for you?

RG: I don’t really know… I’m going to have a photo in the new issue of Romka magazine, but nothing major seems to be on the horizon. I think I’m just going to take time over Christmas break to do whatever work I want without having to worry about it in the context of school.

ES: That’s usually when I’m most creative. You told me earlier than an email you just finished a project? What’s that about?

RG: Yeah, it was my final photo project for the semester. It’s called “Are We Not Drawn Onward to New Era?” which is a palindrome, so it’s about getting stuck in this perpetual cycle of looking backwards and forwards, a process that can be pretty debilitating at times but also seems significant to the understanding of my identity.

ES: That sounds like a wonderful idea and project. I hope we can see that work soon and keep in touch with further projects.

Thanks a lot Rachel, this was great and I know everyone will enjoy looking at your work and hearing what you have to say.

RG: Thank you!

Check out more of Rachel’s work.