The Amnesiac: INELCOM 2019 Collection Headquarters

Willie Doherty (Photographer)

Research output: Non-textual formExhibition

Abstract

In this video, Doherty once again delves into his obsession with the landscape as a storehouse of memories and unsolved traumas. It adopts a more narrative style although we observe echoes of previous works.

The Amnesic begins and ends with a drive where we see an anonymous man passing through a wooded landscape. What is sensed among the trees can be seen as a return to a particular space, a half-remembered or half-forgotten place, or as a momentary distraction arising from the monotony of driving, a daydream or a break from routine.

In a context of moral ambiguity, in which one feels pressured to forget past events in order to build a future, Doherty's concept of amnesiac resides in the spontaneous moments where a casual word or a familiar smell teleports us to the past, to that same that we can not forget, the image impossible to erase.



In this video, Doherty delves deeper into his obsession with landscapes as warehouses of memories and unresolved trauma. It takes on a more narrative style, albeit with echoes of previous works.

The Amnesiac starts and ends with an unidentified man driving a car over a tree-filled landscape. We sense that what is between the trees can be seen as a return to a particular place, a place half remembered or half forgotten, or a momentary distraction from the tedium of driving, a daydream or break with routine.

In a context of moral ambiguity in which one feels pressured to forget the events of the past in order to build a future, Doherty's concept of amnesia resides in the spontaneous moments in which a casual word or a familiar scent transports us into the past, to the thing we cannot forget, the image that is impossible to erase.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationSpain
PublisherINELCOM
Media of outputFilm
SizeHD Video 10:00 Color, 5: 1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound.
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 22 Sept 2019

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  • The Amnesiac

    Doherty, W., 14 May 2014

    Research output: Non-textual formExhibition

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