If a Place Could Tell Stories: Only in Mexico is the fruition of Hall Brown’s journey as a woman and of raising a daughter. The images are photomontages, constructed with images she made. They are intended to appear real yet slightly unbelievable as is true for magical realism. This visual story is part fairytale part myth and interweaves the real and the magical as her daughter evolves, through exploring her compassion and strengths as a woman in a world that is intriguingly new and exotic. This is about women finding and making peace with their wild and natural side.
The narrated story was loosely inspired by Clarissa Pinkola Estés book, Women Who Run with Wolves about the Wild Woman archetype, a powerful force within all women, which represents the instinctual nature of women filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, ageless knowing, fierceness and visionary attributes. The Images depict a journey that embraces the Wild Woman archetype through the lens of magical realism. The images speak to our necessary link to nature and the wonder of animals.
As human beings and in this case specifically females we have much to learn from embracing nature and animals. As an only child until the age of seven Hall Brown formed early deep bonds with animals, believing humans and animals could communicate with one another. An assortment of animals, including dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, ducks, box turtles, horses, a crow and a racoon were her emotional lifelines. The animals in this series serve as mythical characters and are used to give visual form to inherent symbolic meanings. Often, they convey the emotion of the scene or the emotional struggle of the woman. With every animal there is an instinct being called into play.
The images have a myriad of nuanced meanings beneath their surface appearance. They are visual narrations that reveal a poignant journey of a woman discovering her internal instincts as she develops awareness and connects with the natural world.