Tragedy is a public event which mutates a previously private experience. Collective tragedy is co-opted in culture and becomes something other than the lived experience of those who are it’s victims. Layer upon layer of interpretation. Assigned, derived, implied meaning is wrapped over the shoulders of that which happened. With a tragedy on the scale of Grenfell it is inevitable that political whitewashes are applied.
Grenfell Tower was a microcosm of contemporary Britain. Listening and reading the testimonies of friends and family who have survived their loved ones we are priveleged with insight into rich, diverse and colourful lives. Immigration, …
Each victim is unique.
Each a life cut short.
But the wider public handle is 72
A number
A number which anonamises, enumerates 1 of 72.
A loss of 1 is too many
A loss of 72 is too many
But for a public presented with vast numbers on a daily basis what does 72 mean ?
By informing ourselves are we normalising trajedy?
This question is posed as a series of 72 prints
Each presents an image of each side of a slice of bread
Front and back, side by side
Enumerated and titled
White Bread 000 – 071
The name of a victim appended as a subtitle