Douglas clarified and enlarged

Strokes have the unwelcome distinction of being the most common cause of adult disability in Europe. Now also the world’s number two killer after the combined waterborne diseases of (primarily) the Developing World, my friend Douglas Hoarton’s massive stroke back in October 2004 somewhat ironically happened in Greece, where the first written record of a stroke was made by Hippocrates in around the 3rd century BC.

In February this year, Douglas and his wife Allanah were one of the three subjects I chose for my Relationships assignment. Later I had the idea of using the exceedingly photogenic and easy-to-work-with Douglas again for my somewhat disastrous Easter assignment. Despite Paul’s lukewarm appraisal of the original Relationships photographs and my own inability to finish the second project, I recently decided to continue following Douglas’ life with my dSLR, delving deeper and deeper into his life.

To date I’ve shot three complete series of Douglas photographs, namely the original shots of him and his wife at home from February, a second shoot mostly on the land they both bought just before Douglas fell ill and from where he was driving when he had the stroke and a third sequence of pictures shot mostly on Douglas’ sunny terrace overlooking the Bay of Volos. This latter shoot involved a long sequence with Douglas attempting to fill seven plastic pill boxes for his following week’s medical supplies. It was during this seemingly simple exercise that I realised just how much damage Douglas’ brain has suffered.

Douglas arrives in England, where I’m also staying for a few weeks, next weekend to visit his son and grandchildren. This will be my forth shoot. Once we’re all back in Greece again I’ll start tackling more issues and themes, including Douglas’ weekly physiotherapy sessions, his occasional art therapy sessions (see the pictures I recently uploaded to DRR for a couple of Douglas’ paintings) and his attempts to start sailing again with the help of a wheelchair-bound Greek sailor. At the same time I’ll start interviewing Douglas, who has some incredible stories to tell and who, thanks to his stroke, now tells them in the most peculiar, disjointed and charming ways.

If things go well, I’ll include a short Douglas edit as part of my practical assignments for the end of the term. All comments and suggestions more than welcome.

A selection of Douglas can be found here.