Starting Again

Aimee is back! 

Her two months in NYC were more work than she expected. At first Eliot needed 24-hour care, but she helped him negotiate the very complicated systems that eventually led to his having 8 hours a day of assistance, and soon, 12 hours a day. She says, "Oh yes, he will walk again. It may take a year of physical therapy, but he'll walk again if he keeps working at it." She doesn't think he'll return to Portland, but she was the right person at the right time to help him through the critical two months after his surgery.

After the first couple of weeks she did get a few hours of time to herself each day, and she made a number of remarkable photographs and kept a journal that is brutally honest, wisely self-reflexive, often hilarious and ironic, and always surprising. I'm going to compile her photos and journals into a Blurb book for her, and she brought home a wonderful gift for me from the Whitney Museum: a catalog of over 100 photo books by women photographers, with descriptions and photos of the covers and several pages from each. I'm entranced and inspired by them. You'll hear more about them here, I expect.

One of the artists featured, Sophie Calle, sounds just like Aimee. As I read the description of Calle's book aloud to her, Aimee nodded and blushed. It makes me wonder how some artists have shows, books, and fame; others, just as talented, are never widely known or celebrated. 

The photo is Aimee's new apartment. She's moving in, starting over. I love fresh beginnings.