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½ûÂþÌìÌà Hannah Charron

Hannah Charron is a photographer based in Southeastern Massachusetts. She received her BFA in Integrated Studio Arts and a minor in Photography from ½ûÂþÌìÌà Dartmouth in 2025. As a librarian and bookseller, Hannah incorporates her passion for books with her photography and creates conceptual photo books.

Artist Statement

This project is a series of prints and photo books consisting of forgotten bookmarks. They have been found in books that were returned to libraries, donated to second-hand stores, and left behind by myself and my family members. I collect and document these items that would have otherwise been thrown out to give them a chance to be preserved in a book together and shared among a wider audience. Viewers will be able to imagine where they came from, how old they are, and who has left them behind.

As someone who works in both a library and bookstore, and who is an avid reader, I am constantly around books. One of my favorite things to do is look through them, and while doing this I realized how many objects get left inside ones that are donated. Rather than tossing them aside, I closely examine what exactly people are using as bookmarks and discover that more than just standard paper ones are used to mark someone’s page. Everything from personal items such as letters and photographs, appointment cards, receipts, money and blank scraps of paper, are kept inside and not found again until someone else opens it up. I typically find the most bookmarks in the Self-Help and Religion sections, and they are often the most interesting as well.

When I find these artifacts, I sometimes take a photo of them next to the book it was in. For example, I do this if they have similar colors, or if the title relates to the found object. Other times, I take photos because of how starkly different from one another they are. I bring all the objects I find home, and document them in a photo studio light box. The images are then sequenced into a book that I combine with my creative writing to create captions and background stories of who the forgotten bookmark belonged to.

Hannah Charron

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