© Pamela Landau Connolly, Cover of Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Front and Back Cover from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

The first time I encountered Pamela Landau Connolly‘s brilliant project, Mirror, Mirror, I knew that this work was something special. It was a look into a world we rarely see documented, but the approach was totally unique, producing portraits that were worthy of museum walls, yet the subject matter was not one celebrated in normal circumstances. Mirror, Mirror was been recently published by Fall Line Press and I had the great pleasure to write the essay that accompanies the book. Fall Line Press will host a Paris Photo bistro soiree and book signing during Paris Photo, on Friday, November 13th, 6pm-10pm at BISTRO 13 , 34 rue de las Glacière, 75013 Paris.

Mirror, Mirror is a book about being looked at: by oneself, the camera, the photographer, the viewer, and a society that values youth above all. Connolly’s subjects are not looking at the photographer, they are looking at their reflections in the mirror.

As I write in the essay: The experience itself strips away artifice. Our clothes are replaced by generic plastic capes; our hair is sandwiched between foil envelopes or coated in thick layers of color. Identity feels temporarily suspended. We endure, sitting for hours before a mirror that insists on confrontation with aging, expectation, and versions of ourselves we may no longer recognize or fully inhabit. And yet, as the process unfolds, something is slowly rebuilt. Section by section, stroke by stroke, a sense of self returns, not fixed or nostalgic, but recalibrated, shaped in real time.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Front and Inside Front Cover from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

Connolly shares: This book presents a photographic story through portraits of a circle of women as they sit through the process of having their hair dyed in a salon. Some have chosen to allow their hair to go gray but visit the salon nonetheless. All have been asked to look directly and deeply at themselves in the mirror, while I record their reflections. The view camera I use insists on a long exposure—subjects must hold their breath and their gaze, suspended in the moment.

Mirror Mirror is a soft-covered book composed of two hand-bound signatures. Sewn with a thread that suggests a slender hair tie. Throughout the book several gate-folds appear as covers. They function as doors leading to the world of oft-hidden ritual. As the viewer opens a gate-fold, they progress through subtly different portraits of the same women.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Spread from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

Interspersed among the many portraits in the book are photographic images of strands of hair. They are greatly magnified and starkly captured in pure black and white. They allow the viewer to pause and take a break from the aggressive chemical salon process, which is strange and uncomfortable to witness. They let the viewer step back and consider hair in a different context, in its anatomical grace and beauty, before turning the page to the next subject.

The framing of these portraits draws inspiration from Greek and Roman sculpture. I drape my subjects in fabric and treat them with calm dignity and respect, all amidst the swirl of the salon. Throughout, they present as strong, noble, and beautiful.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Spread from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Spread from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Spread from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Spread from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Spread from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Spread from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Spread from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

Connolly shares how the project began:

‘Mirror Mirror’ is a book about being looked at: by oneself, the camera, the photographer, by the viewer, and by a society that values youth above all. The book takes a close look at a circle of women between the ages of 45 and 65 and the variations in their response to aging. I am one of these women.

Every five weeks or so, a cycle begins for many ‘women of a certain age’ when they look in the mirror and face the reality that the hair they’ve been coloring has once again returned to gray. A decision must be made—should I dye my hair to maintain my appearance as it is/was, or do I let nature prevail and allow it to ‘go gray’ naturally? This question taps into a fear of aging that for many is difficult to step away from. Am I viewed as less relevant if I’m gray? Is attractiveness dependent on youth? Is it okay to look my age? Although these questions are not exclusively female, they are certainly more predominant among women.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Anita from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

The hair-coloring process involves sitting before a large mirror for a long wait, considering one’s visage without the usual signifiers of hairstyle and clothing. Torsos covered by capes and heads soaked in chemicals, one is left to sit and stare into the mirror while the solution cures. I have gone through this ritual many times, but one day I recognized something I had not seen before: a portrait of a strong yet vulnerable woman, reminiscent of a Roman bust from the 3^rd century BCE. This is where this book, ‘Mirror Mirror’ began.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Dale from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

Three women were instrumental in the early days of ‘Mirror Mirror’: my hair colorist, my hairstylist, and my first subject. I shared my vision with them: to photograph women in the process of having their hair colored, and they immediately became invested in helping me make it happen. The circle grew.

I chose to make these portraits with a traditional view camera for a number of reasons, among them the camera’s insistence on a slow process. Every step of the sessions involves a series of deliberate actions in a set progression, the last being the release of the camera’s shutter, in this case, one-fifteenth of a second. I used color film to capture the variation in the women’s hair colors and skin tones. The larger film size and wide lens aperture allowed for a finely detailed, yet soft image with a shallow depth of field.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Natalie from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

I met many of these women minutes before our sessions, yet an intimacy and trust unfolded quickly. When the camera was set, I asked each woman to look closely and deeply at her reflection in the mirror. Because of the long exposure time, I also directed them to hold their breath and their gaze, shutting out the room and everything around them.

‘Mirror Mirror’ examines the ways one arranges and presents oneself to the camera and the world. In this book, each woman’s gaze is completely unique and open to interpretation. These portraits are classical in pose and modern in honesty. They are frozen self-reflections, absent a sense of time. As you turn the pages of this book, look at their eyes. So much is being said in their eyes.

© Pamela Landau Connolly, Margot from Mirror, Mirror, published by Fall Line Press.

Pam Connolly is a lens-based artist, bookmaker, and photo-object maker. Her photographs center on women, domestic spaces, and children’s playthings, describing aging and the passage of time.

Connolly has exhibited her work nationally at the Ogden Museum in New Orleans, Foley Gallery in NYC, and Candela Gallery in Richmond, and internationally at the Kominek Gallery in Berlin and the National Portrait Gallery in London. Most recently, Connolly was included on the short list of 20 photographers to show their work at the International BBA Awards Exhibition in Berlin.

Connolly’s photographs are held in the collections of Brown University and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, as well as numerous private collections. Her books, ‘Fly in Amber’ and ‘Cabriole’, are held in the Hirsch Library, Houston; the University of Michigan’s Art and Design Collection; the Beinecke Library at Yale; and the Museum of Fine Arts at Harvard.

Pam Connolly was named a 2024 Critical Mass Top 50 finalist and is the creator and curator of Landau Gallery (@landaugallery), a miniature art space showcasing photo-based art in 1:12 scale.

Photographs from Mirror Mirror have been featured in Slate Magazine, Lenscratch, and All About Photo.com magazine. The cover photo, ‘Fanda Smoking,’ was included in the prestigious Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Award Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston purchased ‘Fanda Smoking’ for their collection.

Connolly received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York and an MFA in Photography from the Hartford Art School in Connecticut. She lives and works in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Instagram: @pamconnollyphoto