This woman is haunting me.

Is this haunting woman me?
Is this woman haunting me?
This is woman haunting me.
This haunting woman is me.

I found this photograph on August 12, 2011 and immediately posted it to Vintage Black Beauties. It is one of the few photos that made me want more information than I will ever have access to. I am stuck with questions. Who was she? What was her name? What did her voice sound like? What did her world sound like? What would she look like in color?

To date, the post of her photograph is the second most interacted with on tumblr (in terms of favorting, reblogging,and reblogging with comments). I like to think that means I am not the only one haunted by her.

In this project I am playing with my questions and people's responses to her. I am playing with her image. I am imagining a world for her. I am giving her a personality. In doing this I am attempting to explore what a digital haunting looks, feels, and sounds like.

_jade e. davis

sources

"Nosy-Be kvinde" ("Nosy-Be woman"). From the island of Nosy-Be, north west Madagascar. This is maybe a kind of portrait for sale.
[photographer] unknown
[collection] Photographs of the Mission Archives, School of Mission and Theology, Stavanger, Norway, ca.1870-1950
[series] Mission Archives, School of Mission and Theology
[album] A13Ma by Einrem, Johannes, 1868-1956
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/impa-m3390.html

Audio information (not her voice (probably), but may be similar to something she heard):
Title : [Musée de la parole et du geste]. , Raïvo : chant populaire pour la première coupe de cheveux d'un enfant / choeur de femme ; accompagnement de valihasMahay Manessa Ravala : chant de travail / choeur mixte ; accompagnement de valihas
Date of publication : 1931
Subject : Tradition orale -- Madagascar
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k128452k