By Frances F. Denny
Located in New York, NY
Archival pigment print (Edition of 5 + 2 APs)
Signed and numbered on label, verso
This photograph is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City.
Frances F. Denny writes:
“During the research process for a prior series of photographs, I discovered two related facts about my family tree: a) Mary Bliss Parsons, my 8th great-grandmother, was accused of witchcraft in 1674 in Northampton, Massachusetts, and b) less than two decades later in 1692, my 10th great-grandfather, Samuel Sewell, presided as a judge in the Salem Witch Trials. One body of work came and went, but this ancestral coincidence stayed with me. What is a witch? Who does that word belong to—now?
“Major Arcana: Witches in America is a collection of portraits of women from across the United States who identify as witches. As early as 15th-century Europe, people condemned as witches faced a cruel fate: torture, and in many cases, death. Yet despite its history, recent decades have seen a reclaiming of the word ‘witch.’ In the mid-20th century, emerging pagan communities in the United States and Europe began embracing the term, and since then, ‘witch’ has been adopted by a diverse group of people.
“Major Arcana explores the various ways the notion of witch-ness belongs to those who claim it, representing the witch as a self-sought identity that both empowers and politicizes its bearer. Each woman photographed for Major Arcana (including genderfluid and trans individuals) pursues a form of witchcraft, whether aligned with a religion (like Wicca or Voudou) or a self-defined practice. No two individuals inhabit the term ‘witch’ in quite the same way, but many consider themselves pagan, and engage in a diversity of traditions, including: mysticism, engagement with the occult, politically-oriented activism, polytheism, ritualized ‘spell-craft,’ and plant-based healing. Among those included in the series are self-proclaimed green witches, white witches, kitchen witches...
Category
2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment