The agency of absence

I know the objects mean something to me, but can we know someone else through the objects/art they leave behind? I know that absences exist everywhere and these materialize through the presence of an object, in the present, regardless of the personal connections through the memory of the person.

As I was preparing to shoot Matt Freedman’s work, a celebrated multimedia performance artist, who lived with a terminal illness from 2011 at his place known as “ The Synangogue” which had been his laboratory, performance stage and gallery all these years, made me think of why I hold on to objects to remember those that have passed and that I miss.

By alternating between moments of silence with moments of conversation, the hope is to recreate an experience of contemplation and interrogation around the notion of absence – presence that lingers beyond the film in a similar way that I experienced while I was shooting for this project.