"The Lady and The Chair" _
Lewis Derogene (PhenomenaLewis) _
Self-Portrait Photograph series catalogue | 2023 _
8.5in x 11in _
Signed_
"The Lady and The Chair" is a symbolic short story by Lewis Derogene artistically known as PhenomenaLewis.
The photographs in this collection feature both myself and a chair, captured within the mayor's residence in France, during my four-week residency at Chateau Orquevaux in November 2022.
As you flip through the pages, you’ll witness a narrative forming through symbolism of a lady, myself, and a chair that she’s dragging alongside of her. This chair is a symbol of her burdens, and she brings it with her everywhere searching for a place to set it down.
Ultimately in this story, the lady sets the chair down on a windowsill.
This windowsill serves as a portal where the chair is placed between the outside, a place of forgetfulness and inside of the house (the lady’s mind) where the burdens remain a steadfast reminder.
Burdens might fade away, yet their memories tend to linger.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s because they stand at the crossroads of total release, freedom, rebirth from the heaviness as well as humility and gratitude in recalling what was and what presently is.