Fragments is an exhibition consisting of a series of experimental photographs which ponder the ideas of Heraclitus, a Pre-Socratic philosopher living in 500 BC, and their relationship to photography.

Herclitus’ writing is left to us in pieces, ambiguous to begin with, and made more obscure as his messages have been repeated and re-interpreted over time. Like these often-debated passages, photographs toe a precarious line between fact and fiction, revealing some aspects of the world through the reaction of chemistry or code, but never quite giving us an answer.

Heraclitus is most famous for the idea that you can never step into the same river twice, and like the river, a photograph can also only be captured once. Through a series of repeating actions – documenting the flow of chemistry, the colour of a sunset, and the impression of the artist’s skin – Bowes explores the concept of the photographic record, pondering the singular perspective of photography and the photograph’s tenuous connection to the real.

This exhibition featured three distinct project connected by this theme. sun-kissed, a series of photo positive ‘sculptures’ made using a diy camera that captured the colour of light rather than an image, displayed in pairs showing the light at sunrise and sunset over several days. dip/dunk, a series of concrete photographs made by dunking light sensitive paper into developer and letting the chemistry drip down to form an image. and body, a large scale self portrait made by imbuing the artists sweat onto small pieces of silver gelatin paper.