David Sorcher's PhotoWorld: Future Fossils Collection

Around the first of the year i made a resolution to find a space to do a physical, real-world showing of my work. I have a number of bodies of work that i believe i could mount a solid show from so i suppose it is a matter of finding the right fit with the right space for the subject. A good first step, i believe, is to gather these images all in one place to take stock of what i have and to see if i can shop these ideas around to any interested parties. By far my preference for a first show would be my Future Fossils project. Of course, i do realize this project will not appeal to everyone. It certainly is not a lowest common denominator subject. I would probably find a larger audience for my Nova Scotian landscapes and nature work...pretty pictures the average person might find nice to look at on their walls. But i really feel most committed to Future Fossils, which might be a tough subject matter for some, but which i believe is some of my best work, especially on a conceptual level.

The Project

This project began back in my college days, a long, long time ago. I was living in Rockaway Beach, Queens, making the most i could out of beach community living. That meant long walks along the shoreline whenever possible. I began finding all manner of deceased animals along the beach and in the vacant lots i walked through on my way there. I've never found my interest in this subject to be particularly morbid having been interested in bones, paleontology and archeology since childhood. It dawned on me one day that these remains held the potential to become "future fossils" and so i chose that name for the project. I was also reading a lot of Buddhist and Earth Worship philosophy at the time and began to recognize these little deaths as merely one phase in a cycle that goes round and round. This point was driven home when i first noticed new plants growing up through old bones on the ground. Life feeds death feeds life again. And so it goes. May the circle be unbroken.

I adopted the attitude that these small deaths deserved documentation and sometimes even ritualization in remembrance of their passing. Everything that is feeds everything that will be and the sacrifices of the dead, no matter how small, should not be overlooked or forgotten. While i mostly adopt a documentary approach to this project, i do occasionally add to or arrange the subject in a funerary manner to this end.

This may indeed be work you have no desire to view. Death is a tough subject for sure, especially for the Western mind. Still, it is inevitable and can teach us important lessons about life, change, transformation and acceptance if you allow it.

What i am presenting here is my digital work on the subject. I do have a number of film images from the early days of this project which i would also most likely include in any mounted exhibit, but i have not been able to scan that work to show in virtual space just yet. If anyone knows of a gallery that might be interested in showing this body of work please contact me privately. I also encourage you, as always, to share this post with anyone you think might find it interesting.

(click on images for an expanded view, especially diptychs and triptychs)