On 5 August 2010, Chris ended his own life. Husband to Alana, my cousin, he was family. He was 29. His death came almost exactly a year after he attempted suicide in one of the grand State Forests of his native Queensland, Australia. Something went wrong, or maybe he clung on, back then. After four days in a forest so deep that family and friends all but failed to find him, he walked himself to help. I’m not sure when exactly his depression first showed face. I never knew him to be any different. Highly intelligent, he was trapped within himself, a cage with no apparent way out. He fought for years; it was a front-row battle that lacked a level playing field. He spoke about it, you know, about the drugs that were supposed to make him feel ok, about his state of mind, about all the doctors. Often though, he’d sit there in silence. He dreamt of being a pilot, of doing other things. Dear Chris is engaged with the connection between loss, ritual and memory. Rather than following a linear narrative, the project is made of three interchangeable “chapters”: vernacular pictures from Chris’ childhood album, photographs of some of Chris’ objects kept by Alana, and finally photographs of places of significance to Chris – his story, and ours.
Katrin Koenning, Germany
Chobi Mela IX International Festival of Photography in Bangladesh
February 3 to 16, 2017
Rd No. 8A
Dhaka 1209
Bangladesh
