media archaeology More than twenty years ago I discovered the daguerreotype — one of the earliest of photographic media. Images are formed in a camera on polished light sensitive silver-plated copper—on mirrors. These are not just simply early photographs. They are unique one-off images, and positive-negative—you have to catch the mirrored surface at the right…
ruins and remains
A journey round my father
Life dispersed in small things forgotten Funeral We buried him in the cemetery at Blyth (in the north-east of England) overlooking the beach in the plot where my mother has lain since 1999. It was a bleak place back then. Twenty five years have seen the trees and hedges mature. The watery sunshine of that…
In Tilley’s Garden: Transcendental Experiences
reflections on the work of Christopher Yates Tilley 4 This is Part 4 of a reflection upon the works of Chris Tilley, prompted by his too-early death in March 2024. I want to do justice to the range and depth, the significance of his work in anthropology and archaeology. My reflections are based on memories,…
Chris Tilley – mythographic triptych (annotated)
Reflections on the work of Christopher Yates Tilley 2 This is Part 2 of a reflection upon the works of Chris Tilley, prompted by his too-early death in March 2024. I want to do justice to the range and depth, the significance of his work in anthropology and archaeology. My reflections are based on memories,…
Update: December 2022 – slow archaeology
“Our brains aren’t designed for multitasking”, my dear friend Cliff Nass, mathematician, cognitive scientist and psychologist, warned me a good long while ago – and he’d written a book about it! “It will slow you down and cloud your reasoning.” OK — I’m still working on the same big three projects as back then. But…
Mike Pearson – theatre/archaeology
Mike Pearson died last week. He was a performance artist, theatre director, theorist and philosopher, scholar and teacher. And, as composer John Hardy said, Mike collaborated and connected – visual design, architectural stagecraft, poets, playwrights, composers, experimental jazz musicians, dancers, disability & gender specialists, comics, community art conveners, museum curators, traditional Japanese theatre performers, Patagonian farmers,…