Remembering lost loves through the power of photography
Do you look at a photograph and hurtle back to a docent place and time? “Loved & Lost is a documentary that explores our experiences of loss through photography and audio interview,” says the project’s creator Simon Bray. “Each participant is asked to find a photograph of themselves with their lost loved one. We then return to the location of the original photograph to replicate the image.” It’s a brilliant idea expertly produced. We appreciate the power of photographs, and wonder which ones we should keep to live with and become part of who we are.
The images are snapshots of time. We see what was missed and what remains. “Grief, when it comes, is nothing like we expect it to be,” wrote the journalist Joan Didion. Living becomes a challenge to survive. But the act of being, reason and remembering push back the maelstrom and calm the frenzy. The Romans told the bereaved, “Such a one has lived”. Less ‘loved and lost’ than ‘love and won’. Jews say “I wish you a long life” to the mourning. Death is the ever present in human history, and with it comes the chance to celebrate life. The Egyptians put it well:
‘Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum
Grata superveniet, quae non sperabitur, hora.’‘Think each day when past is thy last; the next day, as unexpected,
will be the more welcome.’ — [Hor., Ep., i. 4, 13.]
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Posted: 11th, December 2018 | In: Photojournalism Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
