Five women gesture a memory of an object that was deeply precious to them and that they no longer have. The objects were not revealed to me as the photographer. I wanted to them to keep this memory private and introspective. It is information that only they know and we as the viewer can only decode as a guess from our own memories of gesture. 

 

The sitters are simply photographed on a black background in pale clothing, context is minimal to avoid resolution on this level of understanding, letting the void of the Lost Object to become a bigger silence. 

 

In the companion images of the Soft Tissue, I asked the women to transfer this memory of touch and leave signatures of imprint onto an everyday tissue. To form, fold or squeeze it how they liked. A simple gesture onto a blank sheet of a most resourceful piece of paper, one which mops up emotion, fluids and residue that emanate from the soft tissue that we are all made of, tissues that cover and conceal things waiting latently to be revealed. The tissue metaphorically fills the void of the lost object making visible the personal narrative of the sitter and becomes a different kind of portrait. 

 

These images whilst seeking the absent also acknowledge that the absence itself needs to be seen.