Paul Plays Harry, 2025
Silver gelatin prints
Paul Plays Harry marks the next chapter in my ongoing series, E is for Empty Yourself. This work is a kind of photographic performance, in which my dad and I make repeated visits to Harry Houdini’s grave in Ridgewood, Queens, attempting to communicate with his ghost through a Zoom audio recorder.
While E is for Empty Yourself focused on my father’s physical, day-to-day reality, Paul Plays Harry turns toward his spiritual life. Using Houdini and our pursuit of his ghost as a catalyst, the project considers faith in all its forms: faith in sobriety, religion, cultural icons, systems of government, magic, and medicine. Central to the work is my father’s ongoing negotiation with chronic pain, narcolepsy, and mental health, articulated—at times illegibly—through a recorded conversation and confessional addressed to Houdini during one of our ritualistic photo sessions.