Barbara

Barbara was seven years old when Modica, a recent transplant from the City to rural, upstate New York, saw her on the porch of her family's farmhouse with siblings, cousins and friends. Already feeling like a foreigner outside of her urban element, Modica decided to stop and photograph, embarking on what became a fifteen year relationship. The first ten years of the collaboration that ensued was published in 1996 as Treadwell, a critically acclaimed masterpiece (cat# CI087H, signed). Then, tragically, Barbara was diagnosed with a severe case of juvenile diabetes. Though bedridden during much of this time, the photographs continued unabated until her death in 2001. Barbara's last year is presented in this unassuming elegy. Modica continued to use the same 8 x 10 camera she has always used-her portraits both haunting and tender, a poignant telling of a young woman on her deathbed.