GHOST DAYS: CVD 19 Series
Issue 021, Volume Six | Summer 2020
Terrance Houle, Mom Visiting Grandma on Lockdown: Ghost Days: CVD 19 series, 2020
Photo Courtesy of the artist.
When the pandemic hit Calgary, my daughter Neko and I ended up losing our apartment due to Covid-19. We had to evacuate our apartment for health reasons and ended up at my folks’ place on the Kainai Nation (Blood Tribe). We left most of our stuff behind and slept on my parents’ couches for two months. We were semi-homeless since Alberta Health and Safety (AHS) told us not to go back to our apartment and stay safe where we were.
This photo essay is a continuation of my ongoing project Ghost Days, a collaborative project involving spirits and the living in collaboration to share creative works.
We decided to wait it out until the Covid numbers were down. During this time I had taken all my photo, lighting, audio, music, and video gear with me including, my 35mm Canon TLb, medium format Mamiya RB67, and Holga 120mm cameras. We decided to shoot photos of ourselves and portraits of people during this pandemic. We would jump in my folks’ car and go for rides and just document whatever we could on film then develop it later with a caffenol (coffee/vitamin C) developer. Using caffenol we were able to develop in the evenings when it got dark, look at what we shot, and either scan or use our photo stand to shoot with a 120 mm digital camera.
The process brought me back to why I got into art making in the first place. I love DIY, gorilla, punk kind of art making. When we were in Calgary, I would bring the Mamiya RB67 and just ask people if I could take their portrait. I was also using a disposable Ilford camera that we would reload with black and white film to just document.
In the early days of April 2020, we would often go to a look out by Waterton Park in Southern Alberta. Neko was the first subject I captured. She was taking a selfie as most teenagers do, and this became the start of this photo essay. I found using analog photography and caffenol has this spiritual connection to the land and ideas of capturing a spirit in this case the living. In Ghost Days, I have looked at working with the spirit world and with this photo essay I was working with the living world in a time that is uncertain. These two spaces seem to collide in this iteration of the project. The portraits were shot with the intent of the moment, moments at work, walking the dog, before one drives off to the airport, or simply enjoying the land. Seeing people in love, smiling or gazing at the camera, I wanted to capture something that wasn’t dismal but lively.
Terrance Houle, Neko Selfie: Ghost Days: CVD 19 series, 2020.
Photo Courtesy of the artist.
Terrance Houle, Dana & Leonard: Ghost Days: CVD 19 series, 2020.
Photo Courtesy of the artist.
Terrance Houle, Jeff & Jesse: Ghost Days: CVD 19 series, 2020.
Photo
Courtesy of the artist.
Terrance Houle, Mel & Nick: Ghost Days: CVD 19 series, 2020.
Photo Courtesy of the artist.
Terrance Houle, Byron: Ghost Days: CVD 19 series, 2020.
Photo
Courtesy of the artist.
Terrance Houle, Jeff: Ghost Days: CVD 19 series, 2020.
Photo Courtesy of the artist.
Terrance Houle, Kelsey: Ghost Days: CVD 19 series, 2020.
Photo Courtesy of the artist.
I wanted to capture something that wasn’t dismal but lively.
Terrance Houle, Todd: Ghost Days: CVD 19 series, 2020.
Photo Courtesy of the artist.
Terrance Houle, Eugene: Ghost Days: CVD 19 series, 2020.
Photo Courtesy of the artist.
Terrance Houle, Lovers: Ghost Days: CVD 19 series, 2020.
Photo Courtesy of the artist.
Terrance Houle, Pho: Ghost Days: CVD 19 series, 2020.
Photo Courtesy of the artist.
Ghost Days is an experimental art adventure with film/video, performance, photo, and music to conjure spirits and ghosts as audience and collaborators with the living.
