Negative Object; Apophatic Gesture

Abstract

Representing absence without naming or referencing the objects in question brings to mind the example of apophaticism – a tradition in theology that names what the divine is not, exploring the limits of human knowledge through negation. Considering the absent object in an apophatic way can foster attentiveness to the things that populate our lives, revealing that when objects go missing or lose their usefulness there is an indefinite loss - not only of the object itself, but also of worlds and relationships that once existed. It might seem a lofty term for lowly objects – a fur coat, a postcard, a bulldog clip - but it is a vernacular sense of the apophatic I wish to access.