#3 Photographing Doorways: A Personal Archive

This week, I’m sharing a selection from my photographic collection focused on doorways. Alongside the images, I’ve included a brief piece of research I came across about the symbolism of the door. If theory’s not your thing, feel free to scroll straight to the photos.

I take photos constantly—rarely does a day pass without capturing at least one image. Over the years, these photographs have grown into themed collections. I’ve been photographing specific subjects since around 1999, though, until now, I haven’t shared much of that work publicly.

If you’re interested in artists working in a similar way, I recommend checking out @patrickpound. His practice involves categorising found images into meaningful groupings. One of my favourite works of his is The Gallery of Air (2013), which was part of the inaugural Melbourne Now exhibition.

My growing collection of door-themed photographs recently led me down a new path: researching the philosophy behind the idea of the door itself. Here’s an excerpt from a journal article I found compelling, titled Doors: On the Materiality of the Symbolic:

Cicero says: "Doors are called the access points (ianuae) at the thresholds of profane buildings." The door is tightly connected to the concept of threshold, a zone that belongs neither to the inside nor the outside and is thus an extremely dangerous place. The house door was imagined in ancient Rome as dividing two worlds: "the world outside, where are innumerable hostile influences and powers, and the region within the limits of the house, the influences and powers of which are friendly. "Arnold van Gennep interprets crossing through doors and gates as a direct rite of passage: "To cross the threshold is to unite oneself with a new world. It is thus an important act in marriage, adoption, ordination, and funeral ceremonies." Many sarcophagi and funeral altars depict house doors or city gates. Just as every bridge points to that last bridge that leads into the beyond, so every threshold points to that last threshold at the entrance to Hades, which mortals at the end of their earthly sojourn must cross over, whether to the gates of hell or to the pearly gates.

I hope you enjoy my collection of doorways and take a moment to wonder what’s on the other side.

Until next time…

Jacqueline 🖤 

SIEGERT, B., & PETERS, J. D. (2012). Doors: On the Materiality of the Symbolic. Grey Room, 47, 6–23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23258587