2013
archival pigment print on Canson Platine paper 1/6
17 x 25 inches
Gift of Anthony Bannon and Scott Propeack in Memory of Shawn Hewitt, 2015
This photograph made in Niagara Falls, New York was selected for a group exhibition and fundraiser called “Blink” held May 3, 2014 in Somerville, MA to benefit the Griffin Museum of Photography. Molly Peters wrote to Tony Bannon in 2013 about her experience in creating it, which is excerpted here:
When I arrived and walked over to the falls, I was immediately in awe. I was born and raised on an island, and the power and beauty of water has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. Niagara is a place that is ingrained in the cultural memory of anyone growing up in America, but I found the experience of being there and photographing the falls to be far more visceral and powerful than expected. I was mesmerized.
After two weeks of being essentially alone while traveling, I was surrounded by people, but somehow I felt more solitary there than anywhere before. I found myself responding to, and photographing, the quieter moments of the falls. The empty staircase adjacent to the base of the falls, where the water thunders on impact, felt even calmer in contrast. Mist rising just over the edge, the moment just before the water fell, even the endless flow of water crashing down the falls, were all experienced in a somewhat meditative state as I shot and studied the water. To me, the resulting images reflect that state of mind and the quiet fascination and curiosity of someone seeing the falls for the first time.