Phillip Toledano

Maybe

“Most of my life has been lived in a golden shimmer of love and privilege. I’ve been lucky in more ways than people can imagine. And intertwined through that iridescent daydream was the illusion of control.

When my mother died suddenly on September 5th, 2006, everything changed. I thought that my parents were forever, but when mine vanished, I realized that nothing really is. Obvious to most, perhaps, but not me. The future suddenly acquired a finite horizon line. It became frightening. A shadowed landscape filled with uncertain paths and unexpected storms. I became apprehensive. What other dark and sudden turns lay ahead?

I decided that I would confront my fears rather than wait helplessly for my future to arrive. Instead, I would try and anticipate my fate. Guess at the abrupt and unforeseen directions my life might take. Photography is always about the past. The moment a picture is taken, it’s behind us, in history. This project is about the future, but how do you research what has not yet occurred?

I took a DNA test that told me what illnesses I was likely to get. I consulted with fortune-tellers, tarot card readers, numerologists, and palm readers. I researched insurance company statistics. I took acting lessons to learn how to move like an older man of 90 or a heavily-built man of 55. Finally, working with a skilled prosthetics expert, I made images based on my research. And something extraordinary happened.”

Toledano (London, 1968) was born to a French Moroccan mother and an American father. He grew up in London and Casablanca. He received a BA in English literature from Tufts University in Boston. Toledano considers himself a conceptual artist, believing everything starts with an idea, which determines the execution. Consequently, his work varies in medium, ranging from photography to installation, sculpture, painting, and video. The themes of his work are primarily socio-political, although lately, he has been exploring art inspired by personal experiences.