PORTRAIRE photographers & their work / vol. 18, winter 2015 / “the mood that passes through you�
IN THIS ISSUE brigette bloom sophie fontaine dominique hille
jeanne madic laura makabresku ellen rogers
annie stephens maura stephens meryem yildiz
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contents
A SOFT, MACABRE TOUCH
FEATURES
we glance into the intriguing fairytale world of polish photographer laura makabresku 24
UN SILENCE D’ALGUE
strange places, both physical and psychological, are explored in the works of meryem yildiz 42
TRINKETS AND ALLEGORIES
objects as symbols, and quiet moments of still life in the works of annie stephens 115
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EDITOR’S NOTE
INTERVIEWS
musings from our editor, jane mullen 4
jeanne madic 18 rebecca cairns 84 brigette bloom 107
VARIATIONS ON A THEME
a look at this issue’s theme and how each photographer’s work relates to it 6
PORTFOLIOS
ellen rogers 8 maura stephens 61 dominique hille 90 joanna pallaris 101
TECHNIQUE
we talk about the differences between shooting analogue and digital 38
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DEPARTMENTS
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editor’s note
GAZING INTO A MIRROR AT TWO REFLECTIONS
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hen we discussed who we might feature in our winter issue, which focuses on photographers whose work evokes a distinct mood, or feeling, in the viewer, my mind coursed through the many talented photographers whose work ranges from analogue, to digital, with techniques from the learned to the more experimental. My mind nestled on several unique and intriguing female photographers; these included cover photographer, Meryem Yildiz, and other featured photographers, Laura Makabresku and Annie Stephens, and the photographers we featured in our Interview and Portfolio departments, including Ellen Rogers, Brigette Bloom, and Jeanne Madis. Each of these women work in their own, uniquely beautiful ways. They create haunting imagery that explores multiple worlds, from natural world to the supernatural, home and hearth, to all-encompassing nature. More so than this, they explore themselves as individuals, and as artists. In many cases, what they find is both beautiful, and unnerving. And, as viewers, we are guided by these photographers to gaze not only at them, but at ourselves. The process of looking at their photos, looking at their reflections of their physical and psychological selves, in an almost voyeuristic light, allows us to
then step back and reconsider our own selves, and our own worlds, either the physical ones around us, or the psychological ones that we have consciously or subconsciously forged throughout our individual lives. I invite Portraire readers to meditate on the works of the artists featured in this issue and observe their own reactions; what do they tell you about the artist, but, more importantly, what do they tell you about ourselves? Sincerely,
jane mullen
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portraire chief editor jane mullen editorial consultant georgiana jones creative director sarah stephens graphic editor kristian greve editorial department mary jones advertising donald rapier pr management jennifer jackson circulation holly lundgreen
PORTRAIRE / WINTER
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variations portrait on a theme
THE
MOOD THAT PASSES THROUGH
YOU written by sarah stephens
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beautiful history, and evokes something in it that digital photography, no matter how beautifully done, simply cannot evoke. This film has an almost supernatural power all its own, much like the photographers who possess the knowledge and skill to use it. It further holds connotations of a rich and varied past. There are countless types of analogue cameras and film available to those who shoot analogue, from as little as ten years old, to over a hundred years old. Each of these cameras, each of these film types, holds the power to evoke an almost mystical, otherworldly, in the viewer. Just as powerful as their ability to evoke a haunting mood, is each photographer’s ability to create an intimate, voyeuristic mood. This can be intriguing in and of itself; we are privy to worlds usually sacred to the individual. Laura Makabresku’s work in particular invites us into this world with her images of intimacy, injury, and more. The work of our featured photographers, Meryem Yildiz,
hen we were putting together the Winter issue of Portraire, looking through each photographer we wanted to feature, we were struck by the deep and meaningful moods evoked by each artist’s work. They seemed to imbue something evocative, intimate, and almost unsettling. With all these facts in mind, we named the theme of this edition “The Mood That Passes Through You.” This title comes from the 1993 Jane Campion film The Piano starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin. For those who are not familiar with the film, it is a romantic drama about a mute piano player, Ada, and her daughter. Set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier backwater on the west coast of New Zealand, it revolves around the piano player’s passion for playing the piano and her efforts to regain her piano after it is sold. “The mood that passes through you” comes not only the title of a song from the film’s soundtrack (by Michael Nyman), but also a line
“They each seem to possess an almost supernatural power to evoke a mood within the viewer, like a ghost, coming and going as it pleases.” also echoes this idea of welcoming the viewer into her private journey with her quiet, whispering photographs taken after recent her move from Montreal to Istanbul. Whatever the method and whatever the means, these photographers each bring the viewer into their world; their world of magic, mystery, intimacy, raw reality, and evoke within them a particular mood that cannot soon be shaken.
from the film. Spoken by one of the household staff, she speaks of Ada’s music as almost haunting, like “a mood that passes through you.” When we look at each photographers work, we feel much the same. They each seem to possess an almost supernatural power to evoke a certain mood within the viewer, like a ghost, coming and going as it pleases, and stopping to leave its indelible mark on those that it encounters. Many of the photographers featured in our winter issue work exclusively with analogue film, rather than digital. To us, this further enhanced the idea of a haunting mood. Analogue itself has a rich and
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portfolio
ELLEN ROGERS
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Selected works by the London based analogue photographer and filmmaker who has been featured in magazines such as I-D, Vogue IT, Glamour, and Harper’s Bazaar China, and has worked with such fashion designers as Alice Temperley, Charlotte Olympia, and Piers Atkinson.
photography by ellen rogers
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these and more of ellen’s photographic works can be viewed and purchased on her website: www.ellenrogers.co.uk &
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interview
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Jeanne Madic’s photography exists quietly and beautifully in a world often overwhelmed with noise, bustle, and frantic moods. We talk with her about her work and how it reflects her own world. interview by sarah stephens photography by jeanne madic
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interview
“My interest lies in onirism, spiritualism, a daydreamed reality of a slow life. The special geography of dreams, and the characters you may encounter in them.” PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WORK.
I am a French analog photographer and a Super-8mm filmmaker with celtic roots and a North African background. I live and work near Paris, France. I have a passion for the grain and spirit of film photography, its accidents, its slow qualities. My interest lies in onirism, spiritualism, a daydreamed reality of a slow life. The special geography of dreams, and the characters you may encounter in them. Ghosts, lighter beings. Memory. I collaborate regularly with musicians (Piano Magic, Jozef Van Wissem, etc.), photographers, filmmakers (Guy Maddin, Friedl Kubelka...) and fashion stylists as a model, a performer (as a musician, I am “Vanishing Twins”) and I love to produce artworks for album covers/music videos. My visual work has been published in several magazines and books / anthologies, shown in Germany, Italy, France, U.K., Lithuania, Slovakia, and is featured on Vogue.It. I recently was asked to join a collective of women artists that was created to organize exhibitions around the world. I studied at the Glasgow School of Arts, Scotland and have lived in London. I have a theatre background (former actress and student at Paris Sorbonne Nouvelle and Glasgow University). In photography though, I am mainly a self-taught.
My great-uncle too, was a very talented amateur photographer too. For years he documented our large family in the most beautiful way. Later, my friend, the director of our theatre company whom I admired so much, told me I was taking interesting photographs. I think he gave me this confidence to pursue in that path. WHAT DO YOU THINK DRAWS PEOPLE TO A PHOTO, MORE SO THAN ANY OTHER ART FORM?
We are surrounded and overwhelmed by photographs in our daily lives, publicity, on the internet, in the underground, etc. it’s really aggressive, intrusive, omnipresent. But I guess it’s our culture, our era. We are at the age of photography and images. We are hypnotized. Most people like photography. My type of photography offers, I hope, another kind of relationship to an image. WHAT DIFFICULTIES DID YOU FIRST ENCOUNTER WHEN YOU BEGAN TAKING PHOTOS?
I almost cannot take self-portraits with my analog cameras. I find it a very difficult process, and unnatural having to use a self-timer, a long chord, or having to plan the frame in advance, etc. because it becomes something too intentional for me and most of my photos are taken so rapidly, spontaneously. But I must try harder. It’s maybe a lack of confidence.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO TAKE UP PHOTOGRAPHY?
At the age of 15, my father wanted to gift me a 1970’s Minolta camera for my birthday. So we went together to one of these second hand camera shops on the Boulevard Beaumarchais here in Paris. As an amateur, he was taking really beautiful photos, he inspired me tremendously: he used to project his Kodachrome slide photographs on a large screen at home for us, only rarely, one evening a year or so, but these moments felt privileged, precious, special and magical. We didn’t have photo albums at home when I grew up.
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WHO ARE YOUR FAVOURITE PHOTOGRAPHERS, AND HOW HAVE THEY INFLUENCED YOUR WORK?
William Eggleston, Edouard Boubat, Francesca Woodmann, Dora Maar, to name a few. And my contemporaries, Ryan Mc Ginley, etc… there are so many to list. Many are my friends…I feel a love for their work but I try to resist being too influenced by someone else’s work if that makes sense. I’m really trying to build my own personal language…Copying someone’s work isn’t interesting for me. This way you don’t learn anything through the images you produce.
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“I guess my work is tinted with melancholy, it’s impregnated. It’s saying, and not saying. Maybe my work is mute. Silent.” WHAT INSPIRES YOU OUTSIDE OF PHOTOGRAPHY?
Nature inspires me endlessly. Walking in a forest or by the ocean, the countryside… exploring… Bright sunlight always inspires me, reflection in the water… Young girls, teenagers, long hair, children, paintings, weaving, sewing, long talks with a close friend, poetry, spoken word, my mother, 1960’s Italian movies, other movies, gardening, acting on a stage, philosophy books… memories… family. WHEN YOU SHOOT, HOW MUCH OF IT IS INSTINCTUAL AND HOW MUCH OF IT IS PLANNED?
Sometimes I plan things when I work with a model, but most of the time it’s semi-spontaneous, when I’m on a walk in nature… but bringing the cameras along is of course intentional. I don’t have a camera on me at all times in my daily life. At least not since I came back to live in Paris my hometown. When in Glasgow I would pretty much carry one on me always. DO YOU TAKE PHOTOS TO EXPRESS/LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF, OR TO EXPRESS/ TEACH SOMETHING TO THE VIEWER?
I certainly take photos to express my emotions, such as joy, grace, excitement, wonder. I have already intentionally tried expressing ‘negative’ emotions through my work and it turned out to be very bad photos! I must try harder… For now I must say that I haven’t found a way to express disturbing emotions… I really wish I could. My work could take a turning point… My photos also certainly teach me something. I’m working in collaboration with my cameras, the light, the chemicals! I feel that I am not 100% the author of my own images. That’s what is magic with film photography. There’s also something playful and easy about the process I must say… it’s not like in painting, when you produce an image from a blank canvas… I admire painters so much.
WHAT TYPE OF STORY DO YOU LIKE TO TELL WITH YOUR WORK?
Idealistic ones. For now. But I guess my work is tinted with melancholy, it’s impregnated. It’s saying, and not saying. Maybe my work is mute. Silent. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR WORK AND JOURNEY SO FAR? WHERE DO YOU SEE IT GOING, OR HOPE TO SEE IT GO?
One important thing that happened these past few years is that I have found my colors! (The pastel tones). I am happy about this. They make me dream, and I like their softness. I am hoping to finally be able to portray disturbing scenes, in a poetic, mysterious and interesting way. But I think I may be able to achieve what I really want to do with words: by putting sentences underneath my photographs, in a book, or during an installation at an exhibition. I have already done that in the past in a gallery in Paris. WHAT DO YOU WANT VIEWERS TO TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR WORK?
I don’t have a specific agenda… but I’m curious to know… I just hope they make them dream, and move them. &
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A Soft,
Macabre Touch Polish photographer Laura Makabresku’s works are a haunting, intimate look into a world inspired by fairytales and dark dream worlds
written by karolina rybaciauskaite photography by laura makabresku
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was originally asked to interview Laura Makabresku, but I quickly realized that I cannot continue on searching for stories behind her photographs – it simply wasn’t the way to do this. If I were to reveal all the answers to the questions Laura asks in her works, I’d steal the element of surprise off each of you. I became aware of this subtle lack of taste quite late; the true essence of her work – the macabre fairy tales hidden within her photos came alive to me, and I realized how the author feels them. Thus, it would be more appropri ate for me to tell the tale of Laura’s world in such a way that it would leave you with nothing else but questions to which Laura’s photographs would be the answers. Laura is a 24 year old photographer from Poland, currently residing in the city of Krakow and studying Polish literature. Laura describes herself in the following way: “I don’t have anything in common with myself. I’m a poet and an owl. I’m the sensitiveness and the empty space. Sometimes I feel that I grew up beside death.”
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Every human and animal, every skin crack and spot has its own place in her photos. And the pain those objects help to create is most often obscure, sometimes – barely noticeable. Why is it that those objects stare at us? It appears as if the border separating the observer and the photo, where the movement is captured, fades. Then again, there is no move ment – it all seems lifeless, or perhaps, life is the only word that can describe what is pictured. What is the exact nature of this life that Laura is trying to show us? What kinds of species are being portrayed, and why are they here? In Laura’s photos, life flows in and out through forests, humans, waters and earth. Inanimate objects in her photos are placed in the medium of the living – as if they are trying to be resurrected, reanimated. Typically objects are frozen in time, quiet and calm, suspiciously sensitive and suspiciously emotional. Women in her photos are trying to realize, understand, become aware of their being, they urge to feel alive, thus they touch themselves, try to inflict pain. It all hurts. “Every wound, tear is real. They are mine. And every photo separately I treat as my own spiritual child.”
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Laura Makabresku says that her main source of inspiration is fairytales; her nickname is a cumulative of hidden fairytale motifs, while her photographs are a way of communicating with herself – a search for something she longs for. It seems to me that her photos are really open to their viewer. In an overly sensitive way, sometimes with the help of the words, they scratch at one’s longing, a very feminine longing for something that could be hidden in letters, nature, life and oneself. Laura’s choice of fairytales is based on the duality of the subject – beautiful stories and grotesque imagery. One of the most important of such, she says are The Brothers Grimm. “Such double nature is an essence of not only what I create, but also of me as a woman.”
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Undoubtedly, inspiration also comes from love as the main source of the feeling of being alive and living. I didn’t question the kind of love she was talking about; I could only see the sad stories scattered in her photos. What are the photographs telling me about? I ask myself without a slightest desire to find an answer – it all seems unreal, everything is lifeless, even humans are dead. Such a strong force comes through like an emotional shock, disintegrating every narrative, leaving only illustrations of what life once was. It’s only when I look at them, without thinking – I feel, just like Laura: “But when I put the vision into an image – for a second or two ir all starts to be quiet and calm. I breathe.” I think that’s a fairytale on its own. &
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photograph by khairil faizi
technique
& TIPS FOR SHOOTING FILM Shooting analogue is one thing; shooting analogoe with vintage cameras is another beast altogether. In this article, Johnny Dunn walks through the ins and outs of shooting with vintage cameras, and gives his own tips and tricks on how to use them. written by johnny dunn
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nvisible images are recorded on small sheets of plastic coated in crystals of silver halide salts when the shutter on a camera with film in it is pressed. Chemical processes are then applied to this film, which can get fairly complicated if you’re developing the film with your own hands, that render the images visible. Film is a fragile thing. Accidentally expose a roll of film to light, even if it’s only for a split second, and the whole roll of pictures can be ruined, and you would never even have known how they could have turned out. Film photography resides in an entirely different world than digital photography. There’s no convenience of a storage card or a nice, colorful screen on the camera to preview your pictures on. Most film rolls can record only 24 or 36 images, while a single memory card can hold hundreds or thousands at a time. With film, you have to finish an entire roll first before you’re able to change film types, whereas ISO in digital cameras, like everything else, is virtualized, and can be adjusted with the touch of a button. Any digital photographer that makes the switch to film will tell you how much more difficult and tedious it is to see results (but it can be so rewarding too).
TECHNICAL PROCESS But because the technical process in taking a photo (Adjusting aperture, shutter speed, etc) is the same, your skill development in film photography will transfer over to digital photography. Aesthetic and design rules, for the most part, are consistent as well. Some things, such as sharpness and depth of field, do require different techniques or at least different thinking in analogue photography, but for the most part, you would practice shooting with a vintage film camera the same way you would with a DSLR. Digital pictures emphasize sharpness, clarity, and other aspects of technical perfection whereas film photos are judged more for their fundamental aesthetics and candor. This is the reason
Film and digital photography are like two separate art forms capable of creating the same piece or image, just using different instruments with their own distinct styles.
photograph by chris ford
A REWARDING EXPERIENCE The seemingly inconvenient drawbacks you’ll encounter in analogue photography, however, can become the driving force behind a creative mechanism that’s not feasible in digital photography. The limiting aspects of film forces you to slow down your workflow and processes. Add development times and costs on top of that and it can become rather difficult for the very casual photographer to continue pursuing analogue ambitions after the initial waves of retro reminiscence and nostalgia pass.
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technique
why analogue photography, why the fifty y ear old cameras, films, and processes of the past are able to remain just as relevant as the latest digital cameras coming out on the market today. Digital photography focuses on and standardizes different qualities than the vintage film cameras, and so, even though the mechanical and technical processes of taking a picture is the same in both mediums, analogue photography is just different. A STRIKING DIFFERENCE A very striking difference, for example, is that image noise in digital photography, even if it’s just barely noticeable amount, is essentially unacceptable and can ruin an otherwise great photo. Noise is the digital equivalent of film grain. Image grain and noise can both be defined as random variations of brightness and other color qualities, and becomes obvious and ugly after an extent. In film photography, a certain amount of grain or is not only expected, especially given the decades of wear and tear vintage cameras have suffered, but they can be used to give off desirable aesthetic effects. A grainy digital photo has flaws and needs to be fixed in post-production, but a grainy film photo has character and inherent value through the noise. A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH A good digital photograph should be superbly sharp, unless the subject captured is an exceedingly rare moment or event, so a bit of blurriness and grain is accepted because the content makes up for the technical faults. On the other hand, with film photos, sharpness is still a desirable quality, but too much sharpness will actually be counter-beneficial. At a certain point, an extremely sharp film photograph tends to look more like a digital image, and as
such will be compared to a digital one. But because digital and film are two different mediums and comprise of different standards, a film photo judged by digital standards, and vice-versa, will not succeed in fully connecting with the person viewing the photo. THE QUALITIES OF FILM Sharpness aside, many of the flaws and disagreeable qualities found in digital photography can be considered attractive qualities in film. You can do wonders with contrast sheets and filters in any darkroom, but there’s no need for the endless polishing, sharpening, and editing with a mouse in Photoshop. Film photos, in terms of technical quality, are generally held to much lower standards than digital photographs, and post-production should be done much differently depending on which medium
The standards for both film and digital photos differ depending on the medium; grain in a film photo can be beautiful, but too much noise in a digital photo can look pretty terrible. you are working in. Sharpening and polishing a film photo with a digital toolkit and digital standards can end up with very adverse results for the final picture, and so Photoshopping a film photo to death is highly unrecommended. As said above, a film photo with Photoshop and other digital post-production qualities will inevitably draw comparisons with an actual digital image, defeating the purpose of film by removing what makes analog different and replacing it with a beguiling sense of mimicry and even of deception. Keeping these differences in mind, when shooting film, you need to focus a lot more on pre-visualizing the photo in
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photograph by dan morris your head, as well as accurately adjusting the mechanisms of the camera in accordance with your environment and your circumstances in order to achieve a satisfying photograph, whether you are shooting in analogue, or digital; with a vintage camera, or a brand new one. You won’t be able to fix your mistakes and faults with Photoshop; the darkroom has much less functionality than software. In essence, you have to slow down your processes when shooting in analog because you can’t afford to make careless errors in adjusting or focusing. Shooting film means you not only will not know how your images turn out until post-production, but you’ll have a very limited supply of shots for every subject. If it’s truly a spectacular image, you may want to shoot the same picture several times in case your first few shots are out of focus or blurred, but choosing to retake an image seven different times
(which is a fairly modest number of retakes in digital photography) means spending a quarter of your roll of film on just one image! Slowing down your shooting process and ensuring that everything’s in its right place will allow you to conserve your limited shots. Exposure problems are perhaps the most common technical mistakes next to out of focus images. Perhaps the most important thing you can rely on in film photography is your light meter. Many analogue camera models will not need batteries in order to record images due to the fact that everything’s mechanical except the built-in light meter. So, always make sure you have fresh batteries, and make sure you know how to accurately read your light meter. A majority of light meters are as simple as a red minus showing up in the viewfinder for underexposure, a red plus for overexposure, and a green circle when
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everything’s just right. And remember, overexposing is an easier fix in the darkroom than shooting an underexposed picture; you can increase contrast, apply filter sheets, and do other things to darken a picture, but there’s no way to make underexposures and shades of black visible in the darkroom. But the only way to truly get away from exposure issues in film is to prevent them from occurring in the first place. And a separate, more advanced and accurate light meter is definitely a purchase worthy of the financial cost and physical burden, as a camera’s built-in light meter isn’t always going to be entirely reliable. Whether you are shooting film or digital, I hope that these tips will have been of some use to you. &
The
Expatriate :
When Meryem Yildiz moved from Montreal to Istanbul, she traded her usual diptychs for a softer, quieter aesthetic. The following photographs represent this shift.
by jane mullen
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previous, “scales” above, “legs”
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“new skin�
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“plume”
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“unholy matrimony�
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“rotation”
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previous page, “eyes on the wall” above, “another day”
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“ashes”
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