Latency, Silence, Trauma and the Search for Self
“Silence is not the absence of something, but the presence of everything.”
Erling Kagge, Silence in the Age of Noise (2017)
Still Unseen is a collection of photographic images that explore silence, latent memory, trauma, and neurodivergence using undeveloped film and quiet domestic spaces as metaphors. The project stems from my personal journey of understanding the long-term effects of PTSD from military and forensic service, alongside discovering ADHD later in life. The work delves into experiences left unprocessed, held within the body, objects, and hidden layers of one's past, much like the three undeveloped rolls of film inherited from my late father, which serve as the series’ conceptual anchor.
The opening images lay a visual and emotional foundation. 'The Tin' and 'Roll in Hand' introduce film as a vessel for invisible memory. 'Frozen Film Fragment' and 'Film in Ice' use material transformation to symbolise emotional freezing, suppression, and the gradual emergence of clarity. These objects externalise internal states: the fragility of what is held, the coldness of what is buried, and the hope for thaw and understanding.
The project then moves into domestic interiors, where silence acts as both refuge and burden. 'Unmade Bed,' 'Sink Reflection,' and 'Curtain Movement' portray everyday environments where exhaustion, distorted self-perception, and the passing of time are keenly felt. These images reflect ADHD symptoms such as temporal dysregulation, hyperfocus, and emotional overwhelm, along with the persistent weight of PTSD. Stillness here is a space for both recovery and confrontation.
The middle section examines fragmentation and interruption. 'Negative Collage,' 'Light Leak,' and 'Burying the Roll' explore how trauma and neurodivergence disrupt, distort, or hide memory. Photographic accidents and intentionally constructed fragments provide a visual analogy for the mind’s attempt to organise experience amidst noise, intrusion, and suppression.
The emotional core of the series is found in three self-portraits. The first presents controlled silence and masking; the second reveals dissolution and internal disorientation; the third confronts the body’s raw state, recalling what the mind has suppressed. This final portrait acknowledges the burdens of a career shaped by witnessing, hearing, and performing unspeakable acts. The work draws on Erling Kagge’s insights about the violence within silence, its persistent pressure and refusal to disappear.
The final images, 'Empty Chair,' 'Film in Ice,' and 'Decon/Recon of Silence', signal reconstruction. Absence creates space, thaw brings understanding, and fragments of Kagge’s text are pieced together anew. Silence shifts from a void to an active medium, illustrating the potential for integrating trauma, diagnosis, memory, and identity into a coherent self.
Still Unseen is both an introspective work and an externalisation of invisible histories. Through film fragments, domestic stillness, self-portraiture, and textual intervention, the project examines what remains unprocessed, what resurfaces, and what can finally be seen once silence is acknowledged, dismantled, and reassembled.
Still Unseen is both an introspective work and an externalisation of invisible histories. Through film fragments, domestic stillness, self-portraiture, and textual intervention, the project examines what remains unprocessed, what resurfaces, and what can finally be seen once silence is acknowledged, dismantled, and reassembled.