PRESENCE OF ABSENCE is an ongoing photographic series exploring the material traces of what is no longer there. The work began by examining ephemeral marks left by nature within urban environments and will expand to consider fleeting traces of human presence within the natural world.
"Absence, the highest form of presence” as James Joyce's wrote to his daughter encapsulates the central premise of the series. Through photographs of the fleeting imprints left by leaves long since carried away by the wind, the artist reveals absence as tangible though elusive experiential and physical presence. The images draw their power as much from the ephemeral delicate traces that remain just long enough to be photographed as from the empty spaces, where absence becomes present through the juxtaposition of positive and negative spaces. All form an integral part of every composition giving materiality and presence to absence. By framing and hanging these images, the artist confers implicit value on fleeting traces from nameless overlooked sidewalks. The forced shift in perspective, from underfoot to eye level, further compels viewers to look up and take notice.
These quiet leaf traces become vessels for memory and longing. They evoke the homeland that one can no longer return to, loved ones lost to age or illness, the echo of children's laughter in houses now grown quiet, the passing of one's own youth revealed in a mirror, and the fading certainty that institutions once trusted, the rule of law, or the promise of democracy will hold. While rooted in personal experience, the photographs invite viewers to inhabit these traces with their own memories while acknowledging that absence is a persistent shaping presence.