Aimee McCrory | Scenes from a Marriage
August 3, 2023
An anchor can be used to sink something, or to keep it safely secured from floating away. In the context of a partnership, the passage of time can act like an anchor that keeps two people tethered to one another. In Scenes from a Marriage, Aimee McCrory seems to pull on this mooring, to test its weight as she walks the corridors of her 43 year old marriage. Her images drift between moments of intimacy, boredom, growth, monotony and the deep care that are inherent in a long term relationship. In some moments, the tethering seems unbearably constrictive, and in others, indescribably precious.
Although McCrory uses herself and her husband as the models for her photographs, she hits a balance that is hard to achieve. While communicating something that feels specifically personal, her images also leave space for the viewer to see them both as stand-ins for anyone in a long term relationship. My musing about her images are not meant to be a literal interpretation of her marriage, but rather a reflection of the complex layers of emotion that her tableaus can evoke.
There are two images that stand out in my mind. Perhaps it is because they each inhabit an opposing end of an emotional spectrum that McCrory’s photographs traverse.
In the first image, I see tension. Here, the woman is emerging, just about exploding from below the surface of a pool. Her mouth is open in a wide and almost desperate inhale. It transports me to that suspended, luminous place right below the surface. When you are first submerged in the fractal, shifting light of the water, it can be a refuge, or an escape- that quiet, crystalline cocoon. But there is a pressure growing from within, a feeling that slowly becomes impossible to ignore.
I imagine that this is the instant where we find this woman. She has been holding her breath, but now she is coming up for air; feeling the relief of filling her lungs. The divergence in the couple is revealed in the tiny moment of this frozen frame- she is gasping, moving, a being in motion- a sharp contrast to her static partner frozen behind her. She, however, looks hungry for oxygen, like she could eat the air.
The other image shows a moment of intimacy between the couple. We see two pairs of bare legs. Her feet are rising to tiptoes, as if she was floating up to meet him for a kiss. His feet are planted squarely on the ground. At first, I think that the added bend in his knees speaks of aging and the extra effort that it takes to keep a firm balance. And while this could be true, I begin to see another reason for his stance.
Perhaps, he is planting himself sturdily to the ground so that he counterbalances her flight upwards. Perhaps, this small gesture is the indication of a couple who have been together enough years to know each other’s bodies by memory. An indication that, without thinking, they recognize how to shift the weight within an embrace to keep each other upright and grounded.
- Mia
Aimee McCrory’s first monograph ROLLER COASTER: Scenes from a Marriage will soon be published by Kehrer Verlag. More of McCrory’s work can also be seen HERE.
