Engram, 2024-
‘The Doctor’ is in.
He is stuck in a multiverse of Polaroids, digital photographs, and toy replicas. In his quest to break free from the mere copy of himself, he ponders: what and who is the original? Is it the physical Polaroid or the digital image? Or is it something beyond these mediums?
In the 'Engram' series, I embark on a playful exploration of the interplay between the physical and the digital, the original and the copy. With a touch of whimsical humor, I introduce 'The Doctor,' a character who developed an eccentric obsession with Polaroids in medical school, leading him to an imaginative journey through the photographic metaverse. The act of documenting and becoming the character forms the heart of the series, blurring the lines between 'I' and 'Him' as we both strive to find our three-dimensional existence on a flat surface.
Polaroids uniquely capture moments with immediate physical presence, evoking nostalgia. Each Polaroid is a distinct relic, preserving a specific moment frozen in time. Holding a Polaroid, feeling its weight, and witnessing its gradual development transports us to a bygone era, stirring a sense of mystical reality. It becomes real.
Digital photography exists in an intangible realm where pixels create fleeting impressions. These images can be endlessly reproduced and manipulated, offering creative possibilities. In the digital world, images transcend physicality, becoming pixels that expand across virtual landscapes and are continuously duplicated and shared across networks. Yet, they are still flat when printed or shown on a screen.
Each image in the series is a catalyst for laughter and deep contemplation on the nature of authenticity and the representation of reality. By juxtaposing Polaroids alongside digital photos, I invite viewers to reflect on how these mediums shape our perception of memory, identity, and existence in photographic settings. I perform reality as ‘The Doctor,’ placing myself in front of spaces to capture a moment in time, both physical and digital, inviting a sense of wonder and curiosity about the duality of performance and photography.
Ultimately, the series is about the evolving nature of photography, where the boundaries between the original and the digital will eventually merge. What is real in a Polaroid or digital photo? Will ‘The Doctor’ ever come back to reality? Each medium weaves a continuous narrative where the line between the physical and digital exists, and the end blurs as ‘The Doctor’s’ body becomes a sheet of paper.
