Tami Aftab - The Dog’s In The Car
Tami cares, Tami’s inventive and Tami is a gentle soul with a great deal of stuff to tell. We couldn’t be happier to present as our second feature Tami’s “The Dog’s In the Car”, a series of photographs of her father who’s affected by memory loss.
We asked her some questions about her work and how she collaborates with her dad. We warmly invite you to follow her doings and keep an eye on what we think is a rising star in photography. We hope you enjoy this!
A close up of Dad’s scar, from the hydrocephalus operation that caused his short term memory damage.
(From Post-It notes left around the house.) Dad comes home from a walk and realises the dog isn’t in the house, after a moment of panicking that the dog has gone missing, he realises that he’s left the dog in the car again.
What a moving story, Tami…and how pertinent is to use photography for a subject related to memory loss and intimate human connections! Due to the current pandemic you had to momentarily interrupt seeing and working with your father and now your end of year show at London College of Communication has been cancelled. Can you please tell us how long you have worked on this story and what’s the background of it?
My Dad suffers with an illness called hydrocephalus, which causes him to build up too much fluid in the brain. About 25 years ago, he went in for an operation to put a hole in his head that would allow the liquid to flow more easily. However, during that operation his short-term memory was accidentally damaged. Making it quite a unique memory loss.
I began working on this story in 2018, but it started as an interview project through videoing conversations between Dad and our family, capturing how his short-term memory affects his daily life. These were really the foundation of this current project, as it led me to realise the importance of humour in understanding how we deal with the illness as a family, and everyone who watched the videos came away loving my Dad. Therefore, for my final major project at university I decided to restart this project as a photographic collaboration. With lightness at its core, we decided to use a playful tone to visualise memories and notions of short-term memory loss. We focus on the notion of care, intimacy and family in dealing with an illness such as this.
An activity that clears Dad’s head is swimming, we learnt how to swim together when I was a kid, both wearing arm bands. His favourite position is the star fish.
I love the way you make use of different media including b/w and colour stills, videos, portraiture and performance. Did you plan it as such from the beginning?
I originally planned to shoot mainly portraiture. But in a natural progression, this unraveled to involve multiple mediums. When working with and depicting a person as a project, it almost felt restrictive to use one style only as humans are full of so many different avenues that need to be represented to display the larger picture. The performative aspect seemed perfect for Dad, as he loved playing up to the camera with shapes and faces.
In our local village hall, Dad is pictured performing on the stage, visualising the repetition of walking up and down the stairs having forgotten what he was doing.
What are the highlights and challenges to work so closely with a family member? Are you always in control of the settings? Or do you see this as a collaboration with your father?
The difficulties are mostly finding the time to shoot, as Dad is working, and if it’s his day off it often doesn’t align with mine. Another challenge we’ve found is when we organise to shoot, we can’t guarantee Dad will be feeling up for it, as some days are more difficult than others.
But there are plenty of positives! Whilst working together I’m constantly being inspired for the next shoot, as I’ll pick up on a new trait that I hadn’t noticed before, or he’ll say something, and I’ll think that’s a great starting point for something new.
It’s certainly a collaborative process, in terms of art direction I’ll come up with the ideas and then pitch them to Dad. Then when we get shooting, he’ll chuck out ideas that we will go along with.As someone who no longer lives at home, it’s a great opportunity to do something together that really builds our relationship. We’re making a project that discusses memory loss, but it feels as though we’re gaining our own new memories through the photographic medium that will be cherished forever. I think that’s something that really pushes me to try and make the most of this project and create work that I want to show everyone.
Dad loves hats, here are a selection of his favourites. He always buys new clothes from the charity shop. Time and time again Dad has come home and exclaimed “Look at my new hat!”, only to realise he was many a duplicate.
Yoga is another form of relaxation Dad partakes in every morning, with my Mum as the teacher. Gaining strength and resilience, Dad’s memory loss doesn’t hold him back from building his confidence within this practice.
This image was taken on our Christmas Day walk, there is a reminder on Dad’s hand that reads “Biryani Cooking”, to not forget that he had left the Christmas dinner on the stove.
Do you have a deadline set to complete this work? And what would you like to achieve with it?
The original deadline for this work was my degree show in May, which as aforementioned has now been cancelled. However, I had decided quite early in to this project that I want to continue this far after university. So, if anything, there’s now not a deadline on it at all!
I would love to have a full body of work so that I can host a solo exhibition and create a book. We have a side business that’s a family-run Pakistani kitchen, Serfraz Kitchen, where we do markets and takeovers. My dream would be to have this exhibition with Dad’s food for the guests, somewhere that all our worlds can be brought together from this project. But moreover, I want my Dad to be proud and for everyone who sees the project to walk away with a smile on their face, feeling like they know him.
(From Post-It notes left around the house.) A manifestation brought off the paper and on to his front door step, as a reminder to turn the oven off, something that often goes wrong.
Screen grab from a short clip, highlighting my Dad’s humorous way of life. Click on the image to access the video and Tami’s IG account
(From Post-It notes left around the house.) Dad works in a department store, without my Mum reminding him “Put your teeth in!” he often doesn’t notice, and says he can’t smile too wide or the customers might get scared. Other times however, he chooses not to put his teeth in just to bring a smile to someone else’s face when they realise they’re missing.
