Click on the image to the right to view this exhibition of graven photographs. Click on each individual image to enlarge it and view more detail and information.
"Ever since I became aware of death, I have been fascinated with it. I've long given up on knowing the ultimate truth of it and frankly, I can wait for that knowledge.
Through my early job as a grave digger, I became more interested in the ritual of death and how we, as the living, react to the loss of a friend, lover, family member and how we attempt to explain it. Our monuments, simple and ornate, act as a mediator between us, our grief and the "beyond".
This recent series of photographs explores this relationship, and also how nature interacts with both these solid and "permanent" structures, subtly altering our present perceptions of them as well as those within the passage of time...
The photograph of the candles in a mausoleum is a strong example of my exploration of the theme of monument as mediator. The wife has passed away and the husband comes to visit his beloved and spends a great deal of time in the structure. He brings candles and flowers, and contemplates his loss as well as his fate, as his resting place is opposite hers. The light plays across this set. The burnt candles, their bending as a result of the heat, as well as the flowers dying and turning to dust add a poignancy and melancholy."
-George Shaw
*Director's note: There are certain places in which time breathes on its own, with only the past to account for. George Shaw combines a topical interest in architectural structure with the hidden world of the prime energies they house, resulting in images both factual and residual. One notices that death retires meaning, in our small scope of things.