The only camera I ever liked and ever used
was the Polaroid camera.
The Polaroid, always and only, true to its
own sublime distorted nature.
Fast and fickle and hands-on physical,
not concerned with digital vanity.
Cheap and expensive at the same time.
No copy and no negative.
P.S. Without you, no Jewish Girl, no Pregnant Image,
no Occult Revival, no Jule-die Vrou.
Homage to the Polaroid. Written (together with Measuring your own Grave, Framing and Naming, Southern Comfort, North Africa (Woman of Algiers), Beaches ain’t what they used to be and Expiring Dates) for and first published in Marlene Dumas, Measuring your own Grave, (cat.), The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2008, p.91; and included in Marlene Dumas, Sweet Nothings. Notes and Texts, second edition (revised and expanded) Koenig Books London, 2014.