Description
Book SynopsisAn exquisite photographic narrative chronicling a turbulent mother-daughter relationship in the serene setting of a beautiful but decrepit Maine home, Frozen in Time is at once beautiful and heart-wrenching. Sarah C. Butler's luminous photographs tell a poignant story of coming to terms with a difficult mother in a way that is both intimately personal and universally relatable.
Drawn to reconnect with her mother after a long estrangement, Butler found that taking photographs of the partially restored Maine farmhouse where the older woman chose to live ultimately gave her the perspective to understand and respect her mother's choices. The images Butler made there are striking and evocative. A pair of little girls' dresses that once belonged to Butler and her sibling, which her mother kept for decades; a corner of the beloved but fading house with its foundation jacked up on a pile of rocks; a partial glimpse of her mother, present yet unknowable-- these and others reveal a complex and compelling psychological narrative.
This is a book about family, distance and reconciliation, and, finally, the beauty to be found in acceptance. It is also a stunning visual tour de force that will mesmerize photography aficionados and students of family relations alike.
Trade Review[Frozen in Time] is about Butler's mother and the dreams and aspirations that drove her until the end of her life. But more importantly, it is a book about how the photographs, and the process of making them, transformed Butler herself. -- David Walker, U.S. Comptroller General, 1998-2008 * PDN, February, 2017 *
Elegant dusty rooms, the changing seasons on the land… her mother's rotating collection of chickens… the images added up to more than a description of a place… [there is] beauty in their "emptiness and stark simplicity." * PDN, January 10, 2017 *
When her mother's health began to deteriorate in 2009, American fine art photographer Sarah C. Butler travelled from Boston to her mother's Maine home, where they were reunited after a long estrangement… The project, it turned out, was far more than simply a document of her mother's life… [it captures] their relationship in a way that makes them at once universally relatable. -- Eva Clifford * Feature Shoot, January 9, 2017 *
an intense poignancy * The Guardian, January 10, 2017 *
There is untidiness in photographer Sarah C. Butler's new book Frozen In Time. Clutter and raveled emotions fill its pages. Her pictures are a tangle of unsparing observation and gentleness, and many capture a serene beauty. -- David Schonauer * AI-AP, February 7, 2017 *
Butler presents beauty in the ravages of life, weather and time...Frozen in Time documents a crumbling house, but also a real home where heart was found. -- Marisa Bartolucci * Introspective Magazine *
