In the first extract from Processing newspaper, I interviewed photographer Kevin Casey about his ongoing project Chamber (2011-) The project documents the inner workings of the UK’s decompression chambers.
Jack Welsh: What motivated you to start ‘Chamber’?
Kevin Casey: It all started from the stories and events that my dad would tell me from working on offshore oilrigs and boats as a diver for over 30 years. As a child when he would return from long haul trips of 1-4 months with stories (some true, some dramatised for bed time stories) of his diving experiences and working on the rigs.
I think the memory that has always stayed with me from when I was a child – and what may have been the major factor in starting the project – was when I first realised my dad had suffered a bad “bend” (more commonly known as ‘the bends’ – when the precipitation of dissolved gasses turn into bubbles inside the body on depressurisation).
I remember when he came home from a trip and spent most of his time doubled up on the sofa or in bed in a state of agony. When I asked my mum what was wrong she said that “your dad’s got a bad case of the bends”. I had no idea what that was. When you know someone who has the condition, you can’t see it or hear it; you are just helplessly witnessing a loved one in pain. The only thing that could help him was a series of sessions in a hyperbaric chamber.
JW: The title has strong connotations with confinement and isolation. Your photographs seem to convey this both implicitly and explicitly.
KC: I used Chamber as the title for the works because of those questionable connotations coupled with how staff and patients in the unit refer to it during treatment: “I’m just going in the chamber.” Although you enter at your own discretion and are in constant contact with a team of doctors and technicians, it can be a very isolating experience. You are sealed in this claustrophobic metal container and locked in. Although you hear slight background noise, it is fairly silent apart from the noise of air or gas being pumped in and out of the space; it is almost a micro version of solitary confinement and quarantine. I wanted to capture the essence of isolation for the patients as well as the surroundings themselves.
JW: How do you approach shooting these environments? Do you have a preconceived idea of what you want to capture or is it dictated by imposed conditions and circumstance?
KC: You do have a preconceived idea but like many documentary photograph projects, once you enter into the environment it changes and evolves. However I found that the institutions do have a lot of similarities with some unique and subtle touches – such as the layout, waiting rooms and office surroundings – which gave each location its own identity.
JW: You’ve travelled around the UK documenting different decompression chambers. Why did you feel this was important?
KC: From a personal perspective I wanted to investigate the experience that my dad and his friends had told me about the hyperbaric chambers. When I first started to photograph the surroundings it is very captivating. The technology seems both dated and futuristic at the same time; almost like a scene from a Kubrick movie. I also feel like the use, understanding and knowledge of hyperbaric medicine and people who use it for treatment is almost non existent. I feel that it has been over looked or forgotten about but as I have found out, it can be used for a variety of treatments.
JW: Why did you choose to document the facilities, staff and patients of these chambers as opposed to addressing just one of these elements?
KC: For Processing, I have edited the work to mainly focus on the units, facilities and technologies used. I have used a limited amount of patient portraits to encourage the viewer to try and piece together a form of narrative. This narrative is slightly abstract and not as definitive as a direct case study of a single patient, which may look like a medical report. There is a lot of information and possibly several different projects that could be formed through the work that have already begun. As Chamber is still developing, I consider the newspaper and exhibition as tools that will help me to refocus on the outcomes of the project and decide which direction the documentary needs to go in. This was one of my main motivations in starting the ongoing conversation with you that instigated Processing.
