M A R N A C L A R K E
The Continuous Thread of Revelation
online exhibition summer 2023
On my 70th birthday, I woke from a dream in which I had rounded a corner and seen the end.
I am now eighty-two years old. This past year, Igor, my partner of twenty years, died at ninety-three.
I had been photographing us for twelve years, chronicling our time of growing old, that dreaded time that ends with death.
Creating these photos has been part of my own way of dealing with mortality by bringing attention to it and by trying to accept it.
I have come to embrace these images as a tribute not just to our lives but also to the demanding and courageous task of growing old gracefully, graciously, aware, and with dignity.
. . .
I have entered taboo territory, aging and death.
A certain wisdom evolves from years of living and observing,
eventually unveiling unseen associations, patterns, and similarities.
. . .
The images in The Continuous Thread of Revelation are limited edition archival pigment prints. Please contact the gallery for information about pricing and availability.
Marna Clarke was born in 1940 in Louisiana, went to university in North Carolina, majored in mathematics, worked for IBM for six years, moved to Washington, DC, New York City, Connecticut, and then California where she has lived outside San Francisco since 1996. Along the way she married, had two sons, divorced, and studied photography at various institutions. Since 2010, she had been photographing herself and her partner, Igor Sazevich, as they navigated getting older. He died in 2022. Marna continues to photograph herself, alone.