The polaroid sisters

Sarah, Leah, and the Polaroid, Brussels 2013.

The polaroid sisters

Sarah and Leah are photographing themselves with my Polaroid camera from the 70s.Their laughter ringing out, they use up the last existing films, the ultimate representatives of an extinct species. These elves of the digital age are having a ball with a gizmo that needs no battery or electronics. How is that even possible? Diligently, they insert the film, pull the tab, measure the light, set the speed and aperture, cock the shutter, remove the dark slide, focus, shoot, then pull out the still-wrapped photo and count the seconds, determined by the temperature. Finally, their slim fingers peel off, still humid from the odorous chemicals, the newly born image, trace of the instant already gone by. ‘Look!’, they seem to be telling us, ‘This is how we were!’. And after having revealed that everything vanishes with time, the last Polaroids take away with them the imprint of their laughter.