The Model Family
Anne II 2016/2021
Featuring Tealia Ellis Ritter Words by Nastasia Khmelnitski
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The concept of memory is a leitmotif that shapes Tealia Ellis Ritter’s first monograph, The Model Family. The viewer is invited to experience the journey of generations that includes real lives and emotions, traumas and joys, leading to rethinking the connection to one’s own family. Tealia approaches the idea of memory, deconstructing it to build one of the possible ways to tell the narrative — her family’s story.
She explains the connection between memory and photograph, “I think over time, the photograph becomes the memory, it transforms and eventually eliminates the memory itself, replacing memory with what we accept as 'truth.'” Reality and the perception of reality intertwine to create something new through the photograph to remain in the memory, keeping the moments of the past tangible and present throughout the years.
We discuss with Tealia the work on The Model Family, published by Loose Joints. Tealia walks us through the structure of the book, the process of editing, and the choices of photographs made to create a feeling of a person who is skipping through their memory, looking back at the everyday moments, and remembering life-shaping experiences. Tealia Ellis Ritter is a photographer from Connecticut. Her work was exhibited internationally, with the last exhibition ⎯ Designing Women III: MOTHER, Egg Collective (2021). Tealia works with black and white images, shooting on large format film.
Publication Details
172pp
200 x 250 mm
140 photos
Debossed OTA-bound sewn softcover with tip-in and flaps
Text by Lisa Taddeo
January 2022
Get your copy at Loose Joints
Anne after the breakup 2007/2019
‘Working with an archive created over 30 plus years allows for a lot of potential ways to approach a book. Questions like how much of a narrative to include, how to handle the passage of time, and how much clarity to provide for the viewer were all considered.’
The Model Family
Arranging photos to series or a printed edition creates a new narrative with a different chapter that becomes emphasized. Could you walk us through the work on the print edition with Loose Joints? What was the final selection of images, the choice of paper, and the process of printing like for you?
The process of working with Loose Joints was a wonderful experience. Lewis and Sarah are very insightful, and I felt like they really understood what the work was about…. love, death, sex, intimacy, age, youth, time, joy, pain, etc., which gave me a lot of confidence.
The editing and sequencing of the book did take a bit of time, in part because there were a lot of images that we could have included in the book, and so a number of drafts were discussed. Working with an archive created over 30 plus years allows for a lot of potential ways to approach a book. Questions like how much of a narrative to include, how to handle the passage of time, and how much clarity to provide for the viewer were all considered. In the end, we agreed that skipping through time ⎯ where banal moments are punctuated by heightened emotional states ⎯ felt the most true to my intent for the work, and did not prioritize then vs. now when it comes to the importance of the image or memory, but rather compressed time, the way it exists in your mind, all at once.
As far as choosing papers and the printing process, Loose Joints have a great selection of options and work with a wonderful printer. I do wish I would have been able to travel to Europe to see the printing process firsthand (rather than reviewing shipped proofs), but Covid made that quite difficult.
Frozen pigeon 2018
‘I didn’t let my family see the book until it was finished and the first copy arrived, which I admit was a bit difficult and felt risky at times. I wanted them to be able to take it in as a completed object.’
Finn at the top of the stairs, age eight 2017
David in the bedroom 2018
Identity
The relationships with our family members shape our identity, slightly altering us, perhaps even making us better. In our last interview, you defined the creation of images as a collaborative process, “the most surprising thing I discovered from looking back at the images of my family members is that we really did create something special together.” How do you think your art and the print edition affect your family, shape them and your relationship?
I didn’t let my family see the book until it was finished and the first copy arrived, which I admit was a bit difficult and felt risky at times. I wanted them to be able to take it in as a completed object and to read Lisa Taddeo’s beautiful, raw words, as well as the poem by Mary Jo Bang that completes the book like a hidden discovery on the back of the last page. I think my family is proud of me, which feels really nice. I have especially liked sharing the book with my kids. I think when they are both adults and perhaps have their own children, the book will become very special to them because it is, in the end, about the generations of people that led to their existence and the intimacy, heartache, and experiences we all shared.
Crystal and David dressed for Margot’s funeral 2007/2019
‘I see the cyclical nature of life so much more intensely now. I am one string, but my string connects to so many others and branches out from me as well.’
The Eyes
The book ends with the text written by Lisa Taddeo, in which she presents eyes as a leitmotif. Lisa speaks about the act of seeing the eyes an image), the possibility to change someone's perception, and the unique way in which a photographer sees their surroundings. In what way, in your opinion, The Model Family changed or sharpened the ability to see and experience family in your closest circle or for yourself?
I have always been drawn to watching people and thinking about how gestures reflect emotion. Amongst my family, I would say that I am constantly reading small visual clues and quite attentive to the emotional states of the people around me. So in some ways, The Model Family is the product of my attraction to seeing. As far as how The Model Family may have changed my ability to see, I have come to realize we are all one thing, like one body multi-pronged being on a continuum.
Kiss 2019
We are moving through different states of being, some of us are old now, but we were young once, some of us are young and we become old… I see the cyclical nature of life so much more intensely now. I am one string, but my string connects to so many others and branches out from me as well. I think we know this about animals, we know they will live and age and die, and others will do the same, but as humans, we feel quite individualistic, though really we are like animals.
Crystal with pet snake 1999/2019
Self portrait I 1999/2017
‘I think over time, the photograph becomes the memory, it transforms and eventually eliminates the memory itself, replacing memory with what we accept as 'truth.' I think this is why we tell people to smile before the family photo is taken.’
Anne, bloody hand 2008/2021
Crystal with flower crown 1993/2019
The Emotion as a Background
With the story that unfolds in the book, we go through an intense emotional journey, witnessing pure joy, intense grief, and the day-to-day life of a family. Each moment is fully lived and cherished, documented to remain a powerful memory. In what way do you think the real experience of the moment is distorted or intensified by its memory left in the photograph?
I think over time, the photograph becomes the memory, it transforms and eventually eliminates the memory itself, replacing memory with what we accept as 'truth.' I think this is why we tell people to smile before the family photo is taken. On some level, we know that in time the memory of the fit your child just threw or the rude remark by a relative will potentially melt away but that the photograph has an air of permanence. How many smiling photos of couples have you seen that were about to separate, but they smile and put their arms around one another for the photo? Photographs are, in the end, largely about who we want to be. What I enjoy about working with my family is that we are all aware of the line that images walk between truth and fiction, and so we are able to play with it. There is artifice in the images, and there is truth, and both states reflect something about what it means to be human and the nature of intimacy.
