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The Distance., an exhibition by Josephine Mead and Mig Dann at St Heliers Street Gallery at the Abbotsford Convent in July 2019 —an exploration of how memory and time can be malleable matter. |
"The photographs presented move between different temporal registers, considering stages of becoming that I find myself within and my relationship with my grandmother, who had advanced Alzheimers. Seeking to find temporal meeting points with her, I am within a dialogue of mourning and becoming— mourning the ways we are out of time with one another, and using the work as a catalyst to find temporal meeting points with her—passing into one another’s time and passing through one another’s image. She lived in the Good Shepherd Nursing Home, attached to the Convent, for several years. It was within the grounds of the Convent that we had our last conversations, before she lost the ability to speak. Memory-loss is a productive force that consistently pushes one out of time. Through the work I have pushed back against this force, resisting losing time and space with my grandmother. Amidst this struggle, I have exchanged notions of futility for futurity, seeking moments of connection, self-realisation and care." —Josephine Mead
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List of photographs:
mothering my mother’s mother
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Ilford Fibre Gloss paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 3 + AP.
A Lesson in Holding Oneself Up
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Ilford Smooth Pearl paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 5 + AP.
Mourning as a productive act.
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Canson Photographique paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 5 + AP.
Leg of the Child
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Ilford Smooth Pearl paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 5 + AP.
Holding Position
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Ilford Smooth Pearl paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 5 + AP.
Act. Generational reflections: an investigation into acts of self-care (part 1)
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Ilford Smooth Pearl paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 5 + AP.
Act. Generational reflections: an investigation into acts of self-care (part 2)
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Ilford Smooth Pearl paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 5 + AP.
List of phrases in vinyl lettering, surrounding the photographs:
you can feel the weight of tiredness most acutely as the tiredness leaves you.[1]
how fragility can become a structural question.[2]
to find a meeting place,
passing into one another’s time,
and passing through one another’s image.
There is a relationship between becoming and mourning; building
and breaking; erasing and drawing. I am at once building myself
up and examining the ways in which I may fall down.
I realised that we were both working through language, both trying to wrap our bodies up in words.
my cheeks are the strongest part of my body.
Her arms have enacted the labour of memory loss.
[1] Sara Ahmed, Living a Feminist Life (Durham: Duke University Press, 2017), 164.
[2] Ibid., 170.
Exhibition documentation courtesy of the artist.
mothering my mother’s mother
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Ilford Fibre Gloss paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 3 + AP.
A Lesson in Holding Oneself Up
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Ilford Smooth Pearl paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 5 + AP.
Mourning as a productive act.
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Canson Photographique paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 5 + AP.
Leg of the Child
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Ilford Smooth Pearl paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 5 + AP.
Holding Position
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Ilford Smooth Pearl paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 5 + AP.
Act. Generational reflections: an investigation into acts of self-care (part 1)
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Ilford Smooth Pearl paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 5 + AP.
Act. Generational reflections: an investigation into acts of self-care (part 2)
2017, Inkjet print on 310gsm Ilford Smooth Pearl paper in custom-made tasmanian oak frame, 43cm x 27.2cm, edition of 5 + AP.
List of phrases in vinyl lettering, surrounding the photographs:
you can feel the weight of tiredness most acutely as the tiredness leaves you.[1]
how fragility can become a structural question.[2]
to find a meeting place,
passing into one another’s time,
and passing through one another’s image.
There is a relationship between becoming and mourning; building
and breaking; erasing and drawing. I am at once building myself
up and examining the ways in which I may fall down.
I realised that we were both working through language, both trying to wrap our bodies up in words.
my cheeks are the strongest part of my body.
Her arms have enacted the labour of memory loss.
[1] Sara Ahmed, Living a Feminist Life (Durham: Duke University Press, 2017), 164.
[2] Ibid., 170.
Exhibition documentation courtesy of the artist.
