Harry Lowe

Exploring memorialisation and the experience of loss through design and photography

Presence of Absence follows a photographic exploration of absence in physical space, inquiring into the format and content of photobook design. It investigates how the experience of absence carries with it an emotional presence, and how the designed photobook can capture this experience and in doing so, conserve the memory of a lost loved one. The resultant artefact is a photobook that reflects an emotional journey of love and loss, centring around a sequence of documentary photographs used to develop a sense of narrative through the flow of the publication. This is accompanied by small passages of poetic typography that bring personal voice to the work, as I reflect on my memories and experience of loss. Through an autoethnographic exploration of the self, this project speaks to the personal and collective experience of grief, acting as a provocation for viewers to connect their own experiences to.  It represents a cathartic personal process through design that contributes to a wider discussion around contemporary memorialisation in secular societies, providing an alternative to traditional rites and rituals of remembrance.