CHLOE NICHOLLS
Chloe Nicholls is a social documentary photographer based in Cardiff, South Wales. Her practice is concerned with ideas around myth, identity and history, exploring the complexity of the interaction between subject and camera. Chloe’s work seeks to evaluate human nature, often drawing upon her own experiences as a young woman to reflect on societal issues. Her work is conducted with a heavy emphasis on research and critical thinking.
Humans continually look for answers to the question, “what happens when we die?”. The desire to rationalise a transcendent reality where ‘life goes on’ can be seen as a reflection on the human condition and its need for answers. COVID-19 has incited a global conversation on the subject of mortality, with the virus leaving many families dealing with the loss of loved ones. As a result, Spiritualism in the UK has seen dramatic resurgence, and Spiritualist Mediums have been inundated with those seeking connection and clarity in the form of contact with the spirit world. The Spiritualist movement originated in the 1800s, based on the belief that the deceased have the ability to communicate with the living from the afterlife.
Remember you must die considers the collective need to prescribe belief and meaning to that which lies outside immediate perception, exploring the ways in which the Spiritualist movement is thriving in a time where uncertainty is widespread. The body of work examines societies’ natural curiosity about death and opens up new avenues for exploring the nature of reality through apparent communication with the deceased. The project utilises a combination of documentary photographs, reappropriated digital material and staged scenes to create a fragmented exploration of mediumship in the modern day.
