|
You cannot step twice into the same river
Pump House Gallery, Battersea Park
, London
 Photographic media often appears real and common sense tells us "seeing is believing". These artists reach back in time to heed the words of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Using the flow of water as a metaphor, they ask question the dominance of the visual, suggesting that we pay attention to other narrative methods such as imagination and memory. In "Sayed", Ellie Ga, follows an Egyptian diving guide who tells how he finds his water deep underwater amongst the ruins of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Ga evokes a space which is at the limits of visibility: what can we make out from the ruins of history? What else might be hidden? This question is amplified further still in Alia Syed's work "Panopticon letters: Missive I"In the course of her research into Jeremy Bentham and Tate, a resonant phrase persisted for her and gave rise to a beautiful filmic expanse of ocean and sky. However, a split screen cuts across this horizon, sundering the unified viewpoint. Another invisible story remains as a haunting presence, felt on the wind.
|
