Sometime a Clear Light
A Photographer's Journey through Alaska, Nigeria, and Life
Sometime a Clear Light is a poignant photographer’s memoir that integrates striking images into its personal tale.
Aylette Jenness’s memoir Sometime a Clear Light focuses on her family’s 1960s experiences in Alaska and Nigeria.
Now in her eighties and facing macular degeneration, photographer and children’s writer Aylette Jenness shares vibrant stories from her life and career. The moments that shaped her are relayed in terms of dramatic landscapes and encounters, with sensory details as of raucous sounds and an oft-referenced river.
The book’s lively vignettes follow along as Jenness’s family moves to Alaska to support her husband, an anthropologist charged with doing fieldwork. There, they and their children occupied a one-room attic above a village store. They formed friendships that lasted for decades. In the meantime, Jenness began to clarify the nature of her own identity.
The family moved again in the late 1960s—this time to Nigeria. They struggled to adjust among the shifting grasslands, but again formed deep bonds with their new neighbors. Historical events like the Nigerian Civil War are referenced, but more prominent to Jenness’s own story is the unsettling revelation of her husband’s infidelity and the eventual breakdown of their marriage. As the text sifts through Jenness’s memories, it further elucidates the couple’s sense of disconnection. Repeated questions are raised about the growing distance in their relationship, expressing Jenness’s confusion as a type of refrain.
Jenness’s striking black-and-white photographs are included alongside the text proper. As Jenness searches for clarity, these images prove to be a strong, complementary visual component. However, they are displayed without captions to invite the audience into their scenes further. They have the greatest impact when they are shared on full- and double-page spreads, where they suggest telling elements of Jenness’s Alaskan and Nigerian lives. She captures architectural swirls in Scammon Bay on the Arctic Ocean, as well as the motion of a fisherman casting a net in Nigeria. Her human subjects are people of all ages, as well as from diverse cultures. Behind the camera, Jenness proves to be an unselfconscious narrator.
When Jenness’s family appears in the shots, they become more personally revealing. Her husband is a rare and uneasy presence, often showing up on the outskirts of group shots. In contrast, images of Jenness’s children are relaxed; they are often depicted with her. A recent photograph shows the three holding hands; it’s a standout representation of the full-circle nature of her story. Further, personal letters and emails are included throughout, suggesting additional information to what’s shared in more explicit terms in the text.
Sometime a Clear Light is a memoir that integrates photographs into its poignant personal tale. It reflects on the photographer’s loss of vision and celebrates her early successes.
Reviewed by
Andrea Hammer
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
