Memento Mori — Muzi Li Rowe

Memento Mori, installation view at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, 2017. Mixed media. Dimensions variable.

As an image maker, I often wonder, what defines a photograph? When does a photograph begin and when does it end? Some might argue that camera precedes photograph, but isn’t the imagery we perceive through our eyes a photograph in the first place? I find the nature of a photograph paradoxical: just like a print would fade and technology would render a digital entity obsolete, the still image of an event is constantly evolving.

Perhaps to better decipher photography is through the physical elements of its medium. My pursuit of curiosity emerges from mobile phones, an invention that further democratized the implementation of photography in the current age, blurring the line between reality and fantasy. The exponential development of technology is stretching my perception of time; upon scrutinizing obsolete technology, each object becomes a window to the there-then, a mirror for the here-now, and a memento mori.