'There is No Death'
(Composite images assembled from large format film positives)
There Is No Death: Statement
There is No Death explores the border between the living and the dead, between the messy physical world and the dimension of ideas and culture where our grief resides. Each image in series presents a different example of the many ways in which we attempt to deal with loss, to make it rational or even reasonable, and ultimately to deny the reality of death.
#1: There is No Death – Forest
This image is made from various views of a forested cemetery in Reykjavik, Iceland. This synthetic view of the cemetery creates the impression of an impassable maze. The deceased are memorialized and reincarnated as trees, creating an artificial forest in a country almost completely devoid of trees. This seems like a triumph of European romanticism and the Modernist cult of Nature, and yet this is a thoroughly artificial ecosystem.
#2: There is No Death - Albert
This is an impossible view of the Albert Memorial assembled from multiple photographs all taken at different times of day with different lighting. This should not be at first apparent, but creates a sense of artificiality, and something slightly off. The statue of Prince Albert has also been scaled up. The Albert Memorial is a particularly garish attempt to triumph over loss and grief by the creation of an overblown monument conflating the gilded beloved with the history of empire. In retrospect the structure becomes a monument to both unbearable personal loss and the loss of belief in a national mythology.