Can’t Remember, Can’t Forget
It can be tempting to believe in the permanence of a photographic image. Part of why the medium is so seductive is its ability to reveal minute, hidden moments that might otherwise escape the eye. The work in "Can't Remember, Can't Forget" seeks to accelerate the degradation of a photographic image, thereby allowing it to reveal, not conceal, the passage of time. Ultimately the unfixed silver gelatin prints in this installation become unreadable visually, and unable to pass on whatever message they contained. The digital video, corrupted from repeated duplication, also loses some of its original quality but gains the richness of something that has been well used. Underlying the series as a whole is a deeper question about why we document moments in our lives photographically despite a near certainty that the meaning will fade over time.
