Working With Loss Artist Ponders: Do We Merely Enjoy “Light” Viewing That Doesn’t Evoke Too Much Emotion?

I’m a 23 year old fine art photographer from Cape Town, South Africa, and in my final year of studies I tackled a subject that many people don’t talk about. After encountering the immensely intimate nature of washing my grandmother’s face after she passed away, as part of a tradition in my culture, I decided that that experience could not just fade with the daily routine of the modern lifestyle.

This body of work is about a cycle, influenced by personal experiences with the covert and untimely nature of death and loss. Through a series of Shadowgrams and prints I retraced the life of my late grandmother through the use of analogue photography.

The nature of analogue photography collages and development plays a large role in the creation of my body of work, as it allows for a slower, more intimate creative process. It allows me to spend time with each image, lovingly and ‘caringly’. In turn, it removes the ‘instantaneousness’ of the digital process, but still initially relies on it to capture the transient moment.

It also speaks to the everyday routine that remains the same, entirely unaffected by the monumental change after losing a loved one. It all becomes a waiting game, waiting for something to happen. It’s not a conscious act of waiting for something, rather, an intrinsic emotion that merely occurs.

Most people find the subject matter rather difficult to approach and view lightly, I suppose this is the reason for my work not being too well received during my graduate exhibition. I have started noticing a growing issue with the current modern art community, as well as art galleries which tend to take more interest in the commodification of an artwork rather than the subject matter and use of different media. Do we really want our expression of real emotion and experience cheapened by the desire to sell art that buyers can easily view and hang above their lounge?

My vision is to create a space for all creatives in my community with showcases art works that create a discourse. That effects each other and makes us able to reflect. Whether it be internally or externally.

Each photograph has been printed on expired paper to exemplify the concept. The objects in the photographs are all heirlooms from my grandmother, re-appropriated into environments as to give them life again.

Working With Loss Artist Ponders: Do We Merely Enjoy "Light" Viewing That Doesn't Evoke Too Much Emotion?