PastPresent

Sally Waterman employs literary adaptation as a mechanism for self-portraiture, producing photographic and video works that explore memory, place and familial relationships. The ‘Waste Land’ series (2005-2010) draws upon T.S Eliot's 1922 poem to examine the marital breakdown and divorce of Waterman's parents and her subsequent estrangement from her father.

Inspired by Eliot’s description of Marie’s sledge ride, in relation to memories of the changing seasons, the ‘PastPresent’ series of six photographs feature snapshots from the artist’s childhood taken around the family home, where her Mother still lives. Meditating on her past, Waterman re-assesses her family album selecting key vernacular images that capture significant occasions, such as a birthday party on the patio or riding her new bicycle on Christmas Day.

The act of re-photography within the same scene, twenty-five years later allows for perceptive comparisons between these two tenses to be made, reinforcing the passing of time. Apart from suggesting a tension between a carefree past with a present day absence, this series also questions the deceptive nature of photography, in relation to the notion of a photographic truth.

(Six unframed resin coated black and white photographs (12x16” each), Archival tape, mounted directly onto wall)