In the Shadow of Things explores attempts by Léonie’s family to clear her mother's house, which had become overwhelmed by objects. To challenge the clichés and stigmas of mental health at the level of society begins with the possibility of change. Some of what needs to be looked at is ones own misguided understanding.
In 2007, a deal was struck: Léonie would help her mother unpack the boxes and attempt to deal with the past, with the tacit understanding that she be allowed to document that process. She combined photography, film and sound to navigate the tide of emotions that erupted when this landscape of possessions was disturbed. The work is a personal study of the emotional impact that OCD can have on both the sufferer and their immediate family. It explores the delicate, troubled and loving relationship between mother and daughter, and a mother and her possessions.
The work attempts not to describe or narrate, but to visually transcribe the emotional terrain and bring the viewer in to the feeling of the space of a familiar yet peculiar home.
In 2011 In the shadow of things was published by Contrasto (Italy).
Foreword by Christian Cajoulle (on cover wrap)
First edition published by Contrasto, Italy
184 pages, with 95 colour plates
Approx 2000 words of text- transcribed dialogues from recordings
Hardcover, 20x26 cm
In the Shadow of Things Ap
Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome 2007.
Foam museum, Amsterdam 2009.
