In Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” an unnamed father and son make their way across the ruined landscape of a post-apocalyptic world. The man tries to explain to his son artifacts of what were once familiar and mundane items of life before - newspapers, billboards, and soda bottles. The man and his son attempt to traverse a world that is progressing in reverse, unwinding itself to a state where there is little memory of life before trauma and where even language breaks down into its most basic components.

In 2019 my father died unexpectedly.
When people die those left behind often look for signs that those they lost are still here. I look for and see my dad everywhere- in the quiet corners of my childhood home, at the places we liked to go to when we were together, when I’m with my friends and their fathers, ordinary domestic spaces, surrounded by nature or in the totally unexpected random moments- there are signs.

Since then I have tried to hold onto the memories of my old life my while trying to navigate a world that suddenly feels changed, foreign and new. Everything is a reminder of what once was.