A Sunlit Absence
Archive & Text.
2018.
During the 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland, my father was one of many who were abducted by a paramilitary organisation. What remains is a collective trauma that is palpable still, in the air and in the ground.
This work considers the image as an act of violence, archive as a manifestation of trauma and exposure as means of erasure. These ideas are discussed through the delicate objects I have constructed with archival photo paper and sunlight from the locations of disappearances.
When divulging personal histories and politicised identities, we are forced to question if anything should be visible in the retelling of traumatic tales.
So, what, then, needs to be seen to act as proof?
This work considers the image as an act of violence, archive as a manifestation of trauma and exposure as means of erasure. These ideas are discussed through the delicate objects I have constructed with archival photo paper and sunlight from the locations of disappearances.
When divulging personal histories and politicised identities, we are forced to question if anything should be visible in the retelling of traumatic tales.
So, what, then, needs to be seen to act as proof?