Timely Tale

Timely Tale is a 6-minute 360° video piece viewed on a VR headset in the context of a site specific installation of an NHS waiting room. The waiting room consists of decommissioned NHS furniture salvaged from closed down surgeries. Playing throughout the space is a sound piece composed in relation to newsreels reporting on data surrounding the NHS crisis. The piece was conceived as a commission for Photoworks in response to their theme ‘Excess’ for HOUSE Biennial and employs new technology to create a democratic viewing experience, handing over control to the viewer, mirroring the theme though an excess of choice. Caruana aimed to work with this technology and explore its potential to expand the photographic frame whilst employing traditional interview techniques.

Timely Tale addresses the personal narrative of Caruana’s mother, Penny, as she deals with kidney failure for the second time against the shifting landscape of an NHS in crisis. My aim was to address the theme of excess on multiple levels; from Penny’s excessive buying of designer clothes, constant search for Mr Right and the 50 pills she takes each day to stay alive, to the endless cycle of news on the struggling NHS, rising prices of drugs and government cuts.

The work was about confronting the issues society is facing on a daily basis, promoting empathy and a more human understanding of everyday challenges. Timely Tale moves away from traditional documentary formats using the 360° technology to reposition the viewer, subject, and maker. The series was intended to challenge and extend the photographic frame whilst pushing the inner and outer experience of VR technology. The work develops photography as an expanded form and continues to push the specific boundaries of documentary photography.