London, 2023
Photography
Originally conceived as a double-sided artist’s book, The Demodocus is presented here in a web-based format. The project brings together photographs made in two different locations: a rural Christian funeral in Sichuan, China, and a cemetery near my home in London. Although separated by geography and culture, both sites reflect on death, memory, and the ways people give meaning to what cannot be fully known.
In the original book, photographs from both locations appeared on one side. The reverse side contained no images. Instead, each photograph was translated into a machine-generated image description and then embossed as Braille. As the images disappeared, they became language; as language disappeared, it became touch.
Named after the blind poet Demodocus from Greek mythology, the work considers how experiences are transmitted through forms of mediation. Rather than presenting images as direct evidence, the project follows a chain of translations in which photographs, descriptions, and Braille each offer a partial and incomplete way of knowing.
This website reconfigures that structure for the screen, preserving the movement from image to description and from description to absence.