A collaboration with my then 90 year old nana

I mailed her a set of questions along with a disposable camera and a list of things to photograph. The project was very rewarding and I would love for others to participate. If you would like to do this with someone in your life, please send me a note, and I will send you the full project from which you can select the questions/prompts that speak to you.

Fidgets

I collect audio from people describing the ways in which they fidget. I am a fidgeter and am very interested in how people move when nervous, excited, bored etc. They are a like tiny dances. I am still exploring the participatory ways in which this project can come to life. Here is one of the ideas- me acting out another person’s description of their fidget. Please send me audio of your fidget- alyson@alysonfox.com

A Shade of Red

I photographed over 150 women wearing the same shade of red lipstick. Most had never had their portrait taken. Despite not knowing who I was or what the experience would be like, so many women agreed to be part of this project. There was a pastor who started her own church and an 85 year old artist in Marfa, Texas. There was an opera singer and a widow who had lived without her husband for most of her life. They were all vulnerable, beautiful and inspiring. They would learn about me and I would learn a little about them, and along the way their photograph was taken. I think of these women often. Published by Chronicle Books.

Ghosts

I documented how people covered their plants when Texas had a freeze in 2010. The forms feel both alive and dead to me. Most of them seem like playful ghosts, but others remind me of loving pets or scenes from a crime. I enjoyed looking at stranger’s sheets, blankets and towels on display - seeing what they selected to help save something. Some seemed intentional and others desperate.