I've always found it somewhat ironic that the pace at which time can appear to fly by seems somehow inversely proportional to our awareness of its passing....OK that's not strictly true, my awareness of this irony is not something that I've "always" mused upon, in fact I'd go as far as to say that until todays visit to the rather grimly titled "Life Before Death - an exhibition about dying" its not a thought that I'd ever really concerned myself with. However, after a spending an afternoon viewing the work of Beate Lakotta and Walter Schels the relationship between time and our lives/deaths becomes uncomfortably unavoidable . The exhibitions format is simple yet remarkably well conceived, a series of interviews are staged with terminally ill patients with whom the subject of their impending demise forms the primary focus of the conversation - along side these frank and often brutal biography's/obituaries are two large format photos taken shortly before and after the subjects death. Simple, poetic and often disturbing this exhibition casts light on many of the taboo's often associated with death; fear, anxiety, God, guilt and love are all subjects that often unite the subjects although for me it was their acute awareness of time which struck a chord. It seems that time can pass us by at an alarming rate and its only when we feel its about to be denied us that we truly appreciate its value....a jolly thought for a Saturday, no?.....rest assured next weeks trip to a gallery will involve more beer and fewer corpses.
