DECADES

‘During an early 1970’s summer I was given a small Kodak Eastman Instamatic pocket camera to use. The 110mm film came in a cartridge and took square black and white photos. It was a small flat plastic rectangle with a tiny off-centre lens.  A yellow strip with black arrows visible through a tiny square hole measured the film as it was used. I carefully watched the black arrows on the yellow strip counting down. But neither this nor the lens were particularly accurate which often resulted in the most random of photos at odd angles being taken. I recently found a trove of these old photos in a musty album. They show a child’s eye view of the times, innocent of the context. But looking at them now there is a sense of the Uncanny, that they represent more than what they show; with the benefit of hindsight we see things differently.   Emotion is embedded in memory and is often a more accurate measure of what we experienced. The summer I took these photos is etched in my physical memory, the sounds and images stir up old feelings and associations, and not all of them are benign’.

The exhibition incorporated etchings, drawings and a soundscape featuring the cawing of crows to create an immersive experience for the audience. 

 ‘For this exhibition Camilla was looking at powerful associations, and embodied memories, in the places we know and move through.  Her work is about Place and is a response to both what is there and the shared hidden history within places and landscapes’ (West Cork People June 2022).   

Asna Arts Centre Clonakilty 2-23 July 2022   

This is part of the ongoing Ar Nos series.