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My Mother's Kitchen
Gelatin-silver photograph on Agfa MCC 111 VC FB photographic paper exposed in contact with a 8"X10" Tmax 400 negative from a Tachihara 810HD triple extension field view camera fitted with a 121mm f8 Schneider Super-Angulon lens.
The kitchen and the dining space beyond are a budget 1960's design that was never changed apart from the floor which shows three different surfaces of vinyl and carpet.
This is my mother's kitchen the day after she departed on the ineluctable journey into mortality via a nursing home and various hospitals. The place is spotless, there is no dust. The funny mugs still line up above the door on the left. The refrigerator purrs quietly and the biscuit barrel on top of it contains chocolate creams. The kettle on the table invites tea-making and the bowl of fruit on the bench beyond beckons deliciously. Candles and candelabras are ready to hand if the lights fail at night. The heat is off and the room is cold but bright with the same morning light that has caressed the window and lace curtains for the last forty years. Her old spectacles are in their usual place on the bench. She has taken her new pair to the place she is going.
I ask myself in what state I would leave my house knowing that I will not be coming back. And you, what would you do?