RDU/Retinopathy is based around the experiences my mother and I have been through in the past three years. During my time at University my mother became unwell due to complications of her diabetes. This has had a huge impact on the way I look at things in the world.

Spending countless hours in a detached clinical space, whether it be due to chronic illness, attending A and E, or visiting family or friends, is an occurrence most people have experienced. The emotions and thoughts that fill up these spaces contradict and overlap each other. Distressing thoughts of not knowing the outcome of a procedure combined with the pure exhilaration when something goes to plan and your loved one is with you again. The hectic hustle and bustle of the overcrowded wards contrasts with the quiet thoughts one feels during the long hours you wait in the hope of good news.

A number of significant highs and lows have happened over the past three years. Kidney failure and partial loss of sight are parts of the struggle being dealt with. Contained within the home we feel safe especially when one feels fragile and unwell. Loss of independence and feelings of humiliation are thoughts that relate to sight loss. From my own experiences I know that the home is the one place that my mother felt secure and familiar with; while being away from the house, she could not wait to get back to safety. ‘For our house is our corner of the world.’

At times like this, alone with our thoughts we notice small marks surrounding us, fragments of life that unexpectedly appear and otherwise go unnoticed. RDU/Retinopathy is a body of work focusing on interior spaces that my mother and I have spent an extensive duration of time in. The images display both clinical space and space within the home. Through the increasing installations of various disability aids within the home, including extremely bright lights to aid with partial sight loss, it becomes increasingly more difficult to separate what is clinical space and what is not. The body of work skips through the different interiors to create a slight fragmented feeling, a feeling that is conversed within us during such uneasy times.

1 Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space, Beacon Press books, 1969, page 4