Ellen Garvens

 Parallel Play 2014 - 2017

This series started when I moved my studio from the basement to my grown children’s empty bedroom. With the furniture removed you could see evidence of the history of the room, fingerprints and scuff marks, even the evidence of the bunk beds from years ago. I didn’t have the heart to paint over the wall and started creating and photographing still lives using the wall as a backdrop. Parallel Play is a term used when toddlers play side by side not quite knowing yet how to play together. I feel like my activity is parallel play across time.