Cloud complex.

Picturing clouds of unknowing: photography, lostness, and cognitive decline.

2022

80 pages : tracing paper, silicone sheet, perspex block, fishing line ; 16.5 cm x 31 cm.

Limited edition of 5 + 1 artist proof.

Copyright: CC-BY-NC

"On the following page are images of Cloud Complex, an artists’ book produced during my creative practice doctoral project, 2017-2023. It is one of a series of works resulting from my research into the subjective experience of cognitive decline, and was specifically made in response to descriptions of ‘clouded thought’ by people living with dementia. When people say they have clouded thoughts, what kinds of clouds might they have in mind? Meteorologically, categorisations of different weather conditions vary immensely, with clouds defined as ‘ragged’, ‘feathered’, ‘wrinkled’, ‘veiled’ and more besides. This descriptive language seemed rich with possibility – something for me to play with as means of suggesting that there may be subtle variations to individual experiences of the ‘brain fog’ people living with dementia report – and a way to consider the ‘texture’ of those experiences. Cloud Complex emerged from wonderings about how to materially evoke this kind of disorientation. The book uses the semi-opacity of materials – tracing paper and silicone – in a play of conceal/reveal; inkjet printed texts and images emerge as through a fog. The edges of the pages, torn to size rather than cut, look and feel soft. The pages are hand bound with fishing line to clear perspex, enveloped in plain white silicone sheet that feels cold and almost clammy to the touch. The main text runs in single lines across wide pages, suggesting the horizon of a panoramic view, followed by images of a cauliflower (as metaphorically equivalent to a brain) gradually appearing through haze."--Lucy Carolan, 2025