TARA WRAY

Tara Wray is a filmmaker and photographer. She was born in Manhattan, Kansas in 1978, and attended colleges in Kansas and Finland before graduating with honors from New York University in 2004.

 Tara currently lives in rural Vermont.

 Today we take a look at her series titled, Come Again When You Can’t Stay So Long.

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Come Again When You Can’t Stay So Long

Through photography and text, Come Again When You Can’t Stay So Long documents my return to Kansas after a long absence to visit my grandmother, GG (a main character from my film). It explores themes of attachment and avoidance, as GG, in the declining years of her life, and me, a new parent, confront the shared grief over our broken relationships with my mother, from whom we are both once again estranged. It reflects my ambivalence about the meaning of family, mothers and daughters, and autobiographical art.

GG doesn’t have a five year plan but she knows she doesn’t want to move to the Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community where her independence will be taken away. A devout Mormon, she raised 6 kids and has been widowed since 1995. Her house is in order. I was there to document this time in her life when our paths crossed, possibly for one last time.

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Tara has received numerous awards and grants including a Jerome Foundation New York City Media Arts Award, the Vermont Community Foundation, and an Anthony Radziwill Documentary Fund production grant for her films. Her photos have appeared in the New York Times, Shots Magazine, Oranbeg Press and The American Guide. She has exhibited in New England, West Virginia, New York, and most recently participated in the Little Brown Mushroom Camp for Socially Awkward Storytellers, hosted by Alec Soth.



To view more of Taras work please visit her website.