Memory Pods is an investigation of aging, mortality, memory and loss. My semi-abstract and anthropomorphic subjects are the flowers and seed pods of Aloe Vera plants.
The progression of flowers going to seed, where biological memory resides, is representative of youthful vibrancy, middle age muddling, and at the end when the memories have faded.
In the final stages of this botanical progression, I observe the ensnarled and weathering that mimics the tangled masses in the brain of those afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease.
We take our ability to retain a memory for granted, nevertheless with the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), those memories can be frustratingly lost. Forever. Alzheimer’s’ Disease or other neurological memory disease painfully intervenes in an individual’s life essentially creating hollow shells of once vibrant individuals. Those who suffer initially do not outwardly appear different than before the onset of memory loss, but subsequently profound physical and memory changes occur quickly. When our brain ceases to hold any memory there is also the loss of the individual. We exist though our memories. Such was the case of my late mother, grand-mother and great grand-father, whose angst having experienced terrible memory loss as a result of Alzheimer’s Disease. All of whom had an early onset condition that meant they left us too soon.
During the degeneration process there are phases of intense sadness, anger, bewilderment, confusion and deepening depression until all memory has transpired, then individual’s memories go blank. Even before these memories are lost, an inflicted person has awareness and a growing realization that something is tragically wrong. Concurrently the individual’s family and other care-givers experience similar mental and physical stress. Family members can experience bouts of gloom and self-doubt, as though living under a lurking gray cloud constantly hovering overhead, as to the potential consequences of this inheritable and dreadful disease. I know.
The elegant botanical portraits can be a pleasure to contemplate while considering how the evident beauty may only hint at the chaos that is concealed within. A series of photographs on the edge of abstraction and figuration; botanicals and portraits, its mystery and fragility.
About Douglas Stockdale
Douglas Stockdale is a lens-based artist whose investigations focus on various aspects of memory, family, mental health and the environment while being fascinated by science. He has been published in seven books and featured in numerous others, and his artwork is in the permanent collections of Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma (MACRO, Rome), San Telmo Museo (San Sebastián, Spain), Reminders Photobook Library (Tokyo), Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (Yale University, Boston), Frick Fine Arts Library (University of Pittsburgh) and many others. He has been featured in numerous articles in conjunction with his solo and group exhibitions, and is a 2023 and 2024 Photolucida Critical Mass Finalist.
He is Senior Editor & founder of PhotoBook Journal, the contemporary virtual magazine for photobook reviews, and the Executive Director of Photographers Exchange of Southern California. His studio is located in Orange County, CA and he will sometimes magically appear on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and his art/photo blog, Singular Images. Concurrently he is a senior scientist/executive for a pharmaceutical company working on therapeutics for Sickle Cell and Parkinson’s Disease. [Official Website]
