Disturbing spaces...

Rob Coley has been exhibiting 'aprés-coup' at the excellent Lincoln Performing Arts Centre. Rob's work looks into the space between past and present, between image and memory.  Several of Rob's pieces question our perception of time and how we might use photography to capture a 'decisive moment.  His time lapse work took me straight back to my own 'Edges' shots.  

The principal work in the exhibition features images and audio of people diagnosed with dementia who consequently suffer memory loss.  Most hauntingly powerful for me was an interactive still image display with an accompanying soundtrack.  The work, called 'I Can't Remember My Daughter's Wedding', comprised a male voice describing how the memory of his daughter's wedding was now simply lost and a digital image viewed using a computer mouse.

The heartbreak of the man was palpable and the experience of using a mouse to shift the enlarged image which, as far as I could tell, could never actually be fully seen was infuriating.  The experience made the pain of a treasured memory that couldn't be remembered absolutely clear.

Rob is a softly spoken guy who has been a professional photographer since 2001. A look at his blog will have you gasping for some intellectual oxygen but that's not to deny that there is some great stuff there.  Tracking the history of his ideas and following the way his head works offers some idea of the rigour that goes into his efforts.

Rob is likely to be exhibiting again later this year and his stuff is well worth a look.  

Do try to remember.