The cornerstones of Tim J. Veling’s practice are the psychological landscape and social-political environment. His work is a subtly evocative blending of the genres of fine art and documentary photography. At its core, his work is an ongoing exploration of concepts of home and belonging, informed by personal connections to place and family. He is currently engaged in the production of several bodies of work documenting the aftermath of Christchurch’s devastating 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

At the end of October 2014, Tim received a text message from his father. He was in the middle of a meeting at work, but his iPhone happened to be on the desk in front of him. He glanced at the message that flashed up on the screen. It read, “I have been admitted to hospital. Please don’t worry, but call me when you can. Lots of love, D,P,O.” That’s how he always signed off his text messages; shorthand for Dad, Pete, Opa. Tim excused himself from the room and called him straight away.

Exactly what his father said he can’t recall, but Tim does remember the words, “Lung cancer,” and “Maybe four months, if I’m lucky.”

Over the following months, twice a day, Tim and his wife Lizzie bundled their seven-month-old daughter, Frankie into the car and drove to his father’s house. They’d spend at least an hour with him, drinking coffee in the morning and a beer at night. Frankie would run around the room with crackers coated in Marmite and smear dirty fingerprints on her Opa’s furniture.

During this time, Tim exposed over 100 rolls of film. Under the dark cloth of his technical camera, he’d use a magnifying loop to find focus on the fine detail of his father’s blue eyes. They’d talk and laugh and mostly just be, all the time with Tim clicking away, one frame after the other.

The work in this exhibition is a distillation of the larger body of work D,P,O, which was originally presented in the form of a short run artist book.

Photo Credit: Daniela Aebli