Siloquies and Soliloquies on Death, Life and Other Interludes

Complex political, human and social issues are rarely conceptualized outside the canonical photo-documentary. I set out to produce a project that reflected on the gaps in understanding, information and representation and the deeply rooted anxieties around ethics and aesthetics that inevitably arise when documentary photography and questions of visibility intersect. This project was produced following research carried out at the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (INMLCF), in Portugal. Over a period of three years I produced a large number of images of forensic evidence and was able to shadow autopsies and crime-scene investigations. However, rather than focusing on a graphic or sensationalist portrayal of death and the dead body I opted for a language of subtraction, rather than addition, obfuscation, rather than revelation. The images presented here depict a variety of suicide letters written by individuals who took their own lives. The work explores the tension between revelation and concealment. It reflects on the tensions and contradictions inherent in the depiction of death as well as the fundamental but deeply paradoxical role that photography has played in its understanding and intelligibility.