Fading Memories by Dale Niles

When the covid pandemic started and everyone was ask to isolate, I found myself becoming so nostalgic, missing people that were no longer with us and the people that were here but I was not able to see. A favorite pastime of mine is going through old photographs. As I looked through stacks of boxes I began to think more and more about the people in these images. Some of them had lived through a pandemic themselves. I recognized some of them, even recalled their names. Some of them were familiar but I was unable to recall much about them. Seeing them sparked questions. Wishing my parents or older relatives were still alive to fill in the blanks.

Memories are odd things. Everyone has their own memories that they cherish. I began thinking of the validity of memories. When you discuss a memory with a family memory it is interesting to find out that they remember an incident differently even though you have described it to them as clear as a bell (or so you thought) from how you remembered it.

Are memories something that you actually experienced or sometimes just a story that you have heard over and over until it becomes a memory?

Sometimes a distant memory pops up at odd times triggered by some random thing or thought. The recall on the complete thought is sometimes fuzzy. You think is that how it really happened?

Memories are sometimes like bubbles that are just floating around inside your head and sometimes they pop and memories flood out.

As time goes by memories began to fade. Spurred on by my introspective thoughts about memories, I started working with old photographs, combining my photos and textures. I would blur the photo as a memory might blur as it fades.







Dale Niles
Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Niles’ formative years were spent with her family living in small, southern towns in Virginia and North Carolina. Inspired by the heritage of these locales, neighbors, and friends, she developed deep-seated southern roots that richly inform her photography practice with visual storytelling. Niles celebrates the diverseness of the human spirit, appreciating those qualities that make us delightfully unique, yet connected in many ways, particularly through shared experiences and preserved visual memories.

Niles majored in sociology at Lenoir Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina. While exploring opportunities in her chosen field, she pursued her artistic interests, ultimately discovering that photography was her passion. The medium offers Niles a wide berth of options for technique, subject matter, and her creative process.

Exhibitions include group and solo installations across the United States, Canada, Paris, France, and Venice, Italy. Her prints are held in many private collections as well the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA) and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. A selection of her work is currently exhibited at Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida. She was selected for Photolucida’s Critical Mass Top 200, Ones to Watch , the Fence, an exhibition at Hartsfield International Airport, and she won the Virginia Twinam Purchase Award.

Featured publications include: Light and Shadow Magazine, SouthxSoutheast Magazine, Shots, Lenscratch, The HAND Magazine, and Oxford American.
Her book, What Lies With: the Eclectic Collections of Andrea Noel received recognition from Elizabeth Avedon as best photography book of 2021.

www.dalenilesphotography.com
@daleniles
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