This 7 inch book “The Pauses Between” is a collection of medium format Polaroid photographs taken by Leslie Ostrander and includes a 6 song EP written and recorded by Matt Matt Marka. The music and images are put together because they are meant to be experienced simultaneously.
The artist statement from Leslie Ostrander:
When I decided to move away from Minneapolis four years ago I started photographing places, moments, people and things that had value to me. Making time for the first time in many years to intentionally photograph something or someone for myself, not for a client or job. To make the photographs more intimate and deliberate I started using a medium format camera with Polaroid film, and only took the pictures when I was one on one with the subject that was being photographed. With the camera being larger in size and having all manual controls, plus the cost and limited availability of the film, I was forced to be more patient and strategic in what I was shooting, where I was going, what I focused on and when I clicked the shutter.
Polaroid film was chosen because Polaroids are one a of a kind image which takes varying amounts of time to turn into something tangible to see and share, much like personal interactions with people and places.
The decision to add music to this group of photographs was seamless. I have spent a lot of time doing the reverse: putting something visual to other peoples thoughts, words or sounds and have been wanting to see how it would work in the opposite situation. I have always felt a strong connection to music because it is a more abstract version of what I most appreciate in visual art: the placement of the pauses between what is happening in the connection of silence and sound, light and shadows, space and an object or sound in relation to the space it’s in. Knowing when to let the eye or ear rest can give greater meaning to the sound or sight.
A book is intimate; you have to touch it, choose to open it and spend time to hear and see what is inside. “The Pauses Between” was made to be found, opened to the light, listened to, viewed at arms reach and shared.
As the director Robert Wilson once said, “…what we hear is important because it helps us to see”.
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