Reverence to the goddess of memory and time

The project explores the act of solitary walking, as an act of meditation, where the relationship between the individual, the camera and the environment blurs.

Aby Warburg spend five of his final years creating the Mnemosyne Atlas, a collection of sixty-three black panels when he would arrange and curate black and white images of archaeological, art-historical and cosmological artefacts. The atlas function as the “thought-space” where the relationship between the images can be studied and reflected upon. Mnemosyne, an ancient Greek goddess of memory, is beloved to be responsible for retaining our experiences and dreams in the form of memory, but also, to unburden souls from their past life, so they are ready to be born again. Mnemosyne was also responsible for linguistics. It is through spoken stories, passed on from generation to generation, that allow for the memory, cultural and ethnic identity to mix and transform the present, which is analogical to our perception of photography.

The Reverence to the goddess of memory and time draws on Warburg’s methodology, creating the collection of images that function as a micro “thought-space” focus on the individual. Engaging with the act of walking, the physical activity of moving through the landscape, ideally in solitude, allows for reflection. Creating some sort of meditation state, where the pace of the walk seems to match the pace of one's thoughts, allowing for simultaneously travelling through the land and own mind.

The collection comprises black and white images of landscape and found objects, but also texts and simple drawings, that signify a journey. It is an exploration of the relationship between the photographer, the camera, and the environment they are in, where the idea of who operates what blurs.