ethan murphy

what's left & what's gathered

What’s Left and What’s Gathered is an exchange between my late father and I through collaboration with the absent body. This series examines a conversation ten years after his death by visualizing strategies that create a dialogue between us. I am interested in how loss can lead to creativity and resilience over time. The series operates around two central questions;What is physically left to observe about someone? How does the gathering of objects, ideas, and values impact our perception of them?


The photographs are centered around at a cabin he purchased and left to my sister and I. The structure has always been a place intended for potential, photographing there has encouraged me to utilize a space that was intended for growth. I have acquired many of his possessions over the decade including his writing, mainly poetry from which I have taken excerpts and used as image titles. The relationship between text and image connects us as artists since he did not know me as a photographer nor did I know him as a poet. I am interested in what common ground looks like between us, the way that it is dynamic and manifests in multiple forms. By situating various image making strategies in this body of work, they collectively suggest that coping with loss is multifaceted and ongoing with the potential of positive outcomes emerging from grief.

Our Place

As The Transparency Ends

Yesterday & Today, Today & Tomorrow

And Now We're Doing Something Else

I Lost My Head Instead

Positive Attitude

You Compared Yourself to Me

It Felt Like a Poem

Each Their Own Texture, Their Own Dream

The View was Worth the Effort

We Hung Around in Circles

What’s Left and What’s Gathered is an exchange between my late father and I through collaboration with the absent body. This series examines a conversation ten years after his death by visualizing strategies that create a dialogue between us. I am interested in how loss can lead to creativity and resilience over time. The series operates around two central questions;What is physically left to observe about someone? How does the gathering of objects, ideas, and values impact our perception of them?


The photographs are centered around at a cabin he purchased and left to my sister and I. The structure has always been a place intended for potential, photographing there has encouraged me to utilize a space that was intended for growth. I have acquired many of his possessions over the decade including his writing, mainly poetry from which I have taken excerpts and used as image titles. The relationship between text and image connects us as artists since he did not know me as a photographer nor did I know him as a poet. I am interested in what common ground looks like between us, the way that it is dynamic and manifests in multiple forms. By situating various image making strategies in this body of work, they collectively suggest that coping with loss is multifaceted and ongoing with the potential of positive outcomes emerging from grief.

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