Concept
Rob Coley's work expands on comments made by French philosopher Foucault regarding cemeteries as heterotopian networks, to conceptually explore a multitude of spaces involved in the contemporary 'way of death'. The work investigates the extent to which, by the management of death, we seek to control life through industrialised and bureaucratic forms. As such, the images act as a sociological study.
The work aims to raise questions over ritual, the sacred nature of space, symbolic construction and accepted social practices. Rob further intends for the audience to question their own understanding of these spaces.
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Production
The photographs were produced between February and April 2009 and shot in various locations across England. The work is intended to present a relatively objective view of the spaces depicted, using long exposures, formal composition and ambient light to capture empty spaces suggestive of both presence and absence. The photographs act as spatial autopsy to speak about what is absent from the frame.
Exhibition
The presentation of images in diptych form is a specific reference to the early use of this method in symbolising life and death. The digital nature of this exhibition extends the reference to include an allusion to the diptych as mobile, private and contemplative.
