Soap by Elinor Carucci 1996

The photograph above is by Elinor Carucci. It is from a series called "Closer," which is a documentation of intimate moments throughout a span of years with her family. I've always found this photograph to be ineffably touching, so its nice to now attempt to put it into words.

In this image, part of a woman's hand is touching a bar of soap in a soapdish. One can probably assume that this woman is likely middle aged or older by the wrinkles on her fingers. Her long nails are painted a deep burgundy, the soap is a soft pink, and the dish and the surface below it are a neutral beige. Throughout the photograph are small reflections from what looks to be a row of vanity lights, they could also be from the photographer's flash (although I doubt it because she is very close to her subject).

The color scheme in this photograph is neutral and consists of tones that mimic that of blood and flesh. These colors resonate a sense of immediacy and intimacy, which is a common theme in Carucci's series. This photo was taken with medium format color film, and like her other work, captures great detail in textures. The most profound texture to me are the small cracks in the soap that very closely resemble deep flesh wounds. This has always been a gut-wrenching focus of the photograph and strikes a visual chord in the same way illustrator/graphic novelist Charles Burns did when he illustrated such wounds in Black Hole-- always very deep and clean looking.

The formation of female identity and mortality is dealt with (literally and conceptually) a very light hand. Carucci represents a polished, yet aged, hand in unison with a delicately damaged bar of soap. These two things together speak of a maternal instinct and a desire of the photographer to connect with its inherent femininity. Though I know from the rest of the series that this is the hand of her mother, she chose to name this photograph 'soap' and not 'mother with soap' because it represents a universal closeness. In this photo, and like many other very intimate detail-oriented works of hers, she moves beyond the boundaries of her own family and makes it connectible with broader audience.