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Tangible Pixelation Makes These Family Photographs More Intimate

Recommended by The Creators Project's favorite time-lapse demigod, Pelle Cass.

The Creators Project's favorite time-lapse demigod, Pelle Cass, wrote an article for Feature Shoot that highlighted the work of LA-based photographer, Diane Meyer. The artist takes the familiar frustration of having a pixelated splotch on an otherwise-beautiful photograph, and manipulates it to yield a more intricate and even intimate concept.

Meyer's series, Time Spent That Might Otherwise Be Forgotten, revolves around photographs from her childhood that she has printed out and physically stitched embroideries onto before again scanning them, giving them the impression of having a glitch or error. The result is a personal mix of technology and handcrafted creativity that balances the physical and digital.

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As Cass notes in his article, "Meyer's cross-stitches seem to toggle from thread to pixel and back again, reminding us of the imperfect natures of memory, photographic representation, and the omnipresent LED screen." We couldn't have said it better, though it's worth adding that the act of stitching and needlework reminds us of being a kid and watching one of our parents mend our ripped jackets. Such textile handiworked overlayed on actual familial images sparks a double-layer of nostalgia and personal history.

The idea of certain pieces of history getting stitched over and confused is amplified by the fact that Meyer's brother suffered from an accident and fell into a coma in 2011 (luckily, he is ok today). Memory is beyond complex, and her work triggers deep thinking on how mental images are truly precarious.

Take a look at some of her work below:

Check out more of Diane Meyer's work on her website, here. And for more from Pelle Cass, re-visit our documentary on the photographer below:

@zachsokol