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After my hard drive was stolen in 2009, I asked Stefan for whatever images he might have saved over our first two years. I found it odd that he was emailing so many random old photos, paintings, and drawings of his own amidst photographs of our collaborative stuff, but didn’t question it. I now suspect most of them were collaborative in ways I didn’t realize.
The dates I’m using for these are the EXIF dates that the photograph was taken, or the date he emailed me.
Some of these correlations may seem reaching, but given the patterns that become evident later, it all makes more sense in retrospect.
2006
November 4th
We’d met only the once, but were chatting online. He riffs off my 2005 self portraits.
November 24th
October 2006.
He echoes my genderbending, my pose, the diagonal composition, and matches my colors with his lettering.
2007
April 24th
March 2006. I’d coated myself with lipstick
My old supervillain persona from 2001.
Date?
Shortly after we started hanging out.
This I was obviously aware of.
May 3rd
My self portrait from November 2005.
He only sent me this cropped bit of the painting.
My nerdy bar crowd in 2001 which becomes quite relevant, later. He combines these two photographs of me into one portrait.
(This was the original image that Stefan had sent me, in skewed perspective, perhaps to hide the similarity? I tried to compensate for the angle in photoshop.)
He only sent me this piece of the painting.
May 21st
My 2004/2005 self portraits.
Using the same green for the background, the wonky hand, and drooling.
May 22nd
September 2006. My TIE fighter, his Pinocchio. Similarly toned.
may 26th
a photo of me on his flickr.
May 29th
2005 self portrait.
Again, he only sent me this piece of a drawing.
June 4th
My private writing detailing Stefan and I first using a TENS unit together.
June 17th
March 2007. Next to each other in my flickr.
June 21st
A photograph I’d sent him, and his reinterpretation/response.
This one I knew. We like electricity.
June 30th
Three weeks apart.
July 4th
September 2006 Bodega cat.
July 5th
May 1st. Manhattan.
The hoola hoop and pavement lines inspires bondage.
(I was aware this was based on my photograph)
Date?
July 2005. The deck railing posts behind dictates the tall thin shape of the robot and it’s arms.
July 14th
1999-2003. Old photos with the same woman. She and I had known each other since grade school, and had casually dated for a short while.
Going through my old photos from 2000-2004
July 15th
Two months apart
July 17th
(This I knew. My photograph was from one week prior.)
July 23rd
October 2005.
July 25th
January 2006.
Date?
2006 – July 25th 2007
Stefan had not been happy to hear I’d ridden on the above motorcycle with a highschool ex-boyfriend.
The horizon line is the same angle as the sidewalk behind the motorcycle, the planet the same spot as the circle on the brick wall, my brother’s nose, the neck strap is made of the same industrial metal I have in my hands, and I mean, a big FOX HEAD.
Also, my torn earlobe, not photographed.
This is that motorcycle highschool ex:
Marching band hat makes the spiked helmet, his drumming hands now holding the club. The house on the hill behind him inspires the castle, the trombone slide inspires the castle’s path, the trombone bell makes the moon behind the castle, the line of the roof of the house dictates the border of the scene.
Date?
Highschool marching band.
The kissy face inspires the battle troll on top, the branches behind make the frayed feather wisps. The drawing below; the tail of the gryphon made from the saxophone, the beak inspired from the white shape behind the girl’s face, her hand on her brother’s shoulder making the shortened t-rex like arms.
Date?
More highschool photos.
The angle of the white ceiling above them inspires angle of the tops of the trees fanning outward.
June 14th
My clown portrait from September 2006.
July 28th
June 2006.
August 21st
One year apart.
August 27th
Stefan took the photo of me in May 2007.
Date?
All photos from July 2007.
A photo Stefan took of my legs, two self portraits, and a photo of Brooklyn.
The windows inspire the brain explosion in angle and copying the flourish above the windows. The bed frame explains the plank emerging from the top of the leg, my tears inspire the small globe atop it, my hair inspires the frayed lines that surround it.
November 20th
A chat about our church of escapism.
Date?
He combines our faces.
Date?
I drew Stefan wearing a hat visiting me when he had a van he referred to as a dragon.
He reused the windshield shape to create himself as a turtle, taking off his hat, visiting me in Ocean Grove with a similarly round and cartoonish car in the background.
Date?
My silly expression, the tiny cars in the distance, the arc of my hood used for the shape of his shoulders and back, the angle of the car and smoke matching the angle of the street below.
