Memento Mori

A vanishing wet plate collodion portrait. Even this captured image of me will fade over time. Mimicking the fading of my own memory feels like balancing on the borderline of being and not being. There’s such a thin line between existing and not-existing, before, during and after life. But once you are the passing will be inevitable, Memento Mori. A cruel beauty. 

This 5×7″ glass plate has been left outside for half a year. A bit sheltered on the windowsill, but nonetheless exposed to cold, rain, snow, wind and a renovation. Every now and then I took it in to scan it, 9 times to be precise.

I finally varnished the plate to preserve its decay, to preserve dying. To freeze it right before it completely parishes and the only traces left behind are those that linger on inside ones’ mind. Like a permanent funeral, one could say.