Sylvia de Swaan

Sylvia de Swaan follow American

Lives in Utica, New York, United States

Projects/Portfolios

Return 1990 - 2015

Introduction

portraits 1970 - 2015

Introduction

The Mexico Years 1962-73

Introduction

Where will you spend eternity?

Introduction

In the winter of 1976 I wrote in my journal, ….”I sit here before my work table, the same one I that was before me in New Orleans, similar to the one I had in Mexico City. Sometimes it is hard for me to imagine that I’m at a place different than the one where I’ve always been…other times I wonder if I’m still the same person calling myself I….but here when I look out the window I see snow covered hills, few houses, fewer people. Knoxboro has two churches, a general store, a gas station, a grange hall and a cemetery. Most days it’s the tone of the sky that sets my mood of my day. The light here is so much more subdued than it is in the south, paler, full of nuances….many days I spend not taking pictures but just watching the light.

As in every other place where I have lived, there are moments when I wonder what I'm doing here. Always I feel atleast a partial pull to other places, other people. But on some levels, when I’m not pervaded by loneliness I feel quite content to be in this small place, lighting wood fires, taking photographing my neighbors, exploring another way of life.

Six years later, Knoxboro has become home. My house is up for sale, though I’m in no hurry to leave. I live here with my son…my husband and I have split up…I work twenty miles away, in Utica as director of an international studio program, Sculpture Space, Inc. My life has become more complex, but I like coming home to a place where one rarely hears sirens , where space is wide open, where one can listen to the sound of rain, and where on can still sometimes pretend that that the world is at peace.

It is now 2015 and though hard to believe, I've lived here longer than anywhere else. The world has changed and I so have I. Though I travel frequently and work on several projects concurrently, I also continue to take pictures of my environs and the people I encounter each day. In 2012 I produced a book of color photos about how this faltering regions is struggling to adapt to a fast changing world. It is available under the title of "Where will You Spend Eternity" at Blurb.com