The TREMOR Projects: Reflections on the Nature of Parkinson's
Kristin V. Rehder, Basin Reflections in Sunlight (diptych), October 29, 2022
After my Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2019, I began using my camera to explore the many connections between my body’s quaking and the changeability of the natural world. Two series of photographs emerged.
For the original TREMOR, I shot around a small catchment area of water, foxtail grasses, border trees, and distant farm fields on my daily walks behind our residence in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. TREMOR II focused on Lopez Island, Washington, our summer home.
By allowing my animated hand to direct the camera while shooting with a very slow shutter, I simply give my shaking its due. Together, my tremor, the camera, and the movements of nature help me create a different kind of art, converting what some perceive as a disability into the opposite—into possibility and positive energy, into a mounting sense of wonder.
TREMOR was exhibited in 2023 at the Phillips Museum at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., and in 2024 at St. Catherine’s School, Richmond, Va. It travels to St. Lawrence University, Canton, N.Y., in the fall of 2025. TREMOR II enjoyed two showings in the summer of 2024 at the Lopez Island Library and the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts.
