The Wonderful World of Tara Wray
Too Tired For Sunshine
So, a while back (2018) I stumbled upon this book, Too Tired For Sunshine, made by a photographer looking to “confront depression by documenting the beauty, darkness, and absurdity of everyday life”.
I actually don’t remember where I first saw it, but it looked interesting so I ordered it. When it came, I went BONKERS for it. The images inside were striking; familiar but at the same time alien, funny but at the same time heartbreaking. I related to it. I carried it around in my bag with me, it was one of those magical books that was like a new friend that I wanted with me all the time!
self portrait with pepsi can, 2023
Over time, and through the magic of social media (once in a while you have to admit that it can be magical!) I got acquainted with the artist who made it, Tara Wray.
I ordered a copy of her handmade book, Come Again When You Can’t Stay So Long, which I also loved, and when she sent it, she included a copy of a documentary she made called “Manhattan, Kansas”. Both are heartbreaking but at the same time funny and strangely affirming. Both are about visiting family and how tricky that can be for some of us. Both the book and the film affirmed for me that I LOVE this person’s creative leanings and proclivities.
When she’s not making photo books or movies or co-founding a project/platform that promotes using photography to navigate mental illness, Tara is raising her twin sons with her husband Josh Melrod (also a filmmaker), playing pickleball, and learning to paint. I decided on the “kitchen sink” method to introduce you to her work. You can check out the gallery below for a very small smattering of what she’s been up to in the last ten or so years.
So, that pandemic thing happened and this Dada Duende Project started a-brewing and we decided to make a test edition of a set to see if we could actually pull it off. We reached out to several artists we like and admire to see if they would want to participate (more about that HERE) and one of them was Tara. We were very glad when she said she’d be happy to give it a go! She contributed a very fun mini-maquette of a doll and her mini-maquette of the Sunshine book.
Anyway, we got to know each other a little better through this process, and when Tara excitedly texted me about Midjourney (a sort of app that you can use to generate images from text) and I tried it, we both went a little wild over the thing and for a year we were our own little two-person secret AI society, We really got into the “Art Machine”, and commiserated about the inevitable over-the-top backlash that is ongoing over it (that’s fodder for another post of its own). Playing with Midjourney actually led Tara to take up painting in her studio, in a roundabout sort of way. You can see some of her paintings and AI art in the gallery at the bottom of this post (and in our shop!). I would also say that it led us to become friends, and I am grateful for that!
This woman lives and breathes art and art-making, and this leads me to her latest endeavor…
Pippin helping me try to photograph BOOK OF SONS
…this wonderful new creation, BOOK OF SONS!
Ay-yi-yi, this book is so beautiful! It’s about memory, about family, and most of all it’s an ode to her “mirror twins” (it’s a thing, look it up) and their life growing up in rural Vermont. It’s an accordion fold book that extends out to forever and back again and it’s printed beautifully on heavy, lovely paper, AND it has another little book hidden inside of it. It’s one of those books that has a pleasant smell from the quality of ink used to print it. I am telling you all of these juicy details because it’s brand new and Tara opted to let us offer 2 signed copies of the book for sale in our Cinnamon Shop! The book is an art object in and of itself. It was expensive to make, and only 100 copies were made. They will be gone in a heartbeat.
Below: Tara’s sons showing off Book of Sons
see the gallery above for some examples of Tara’s visual art outside of photography. As Chris said earlier tonight, “She’s got something special.”
And, here is why the newsletter for this week is called “Cat Cheese”.
Thank you, Tara, we think you’re the cheese cat’s pajamas!