A Letter To My Mum is a multifaceted collaboration between the British-Iranian photographer Mina Boromand, and the French filmmaker Guillaume Tran. It focuses on the relationship between memories and photographs while exploring the past and how it's remembered through the lens of Mina’s aphantasia (the inability to bring visual images, such as people, places or things, to mind).

Having escaped from Iran following the revolution of 1979, Mina has lived a life of displacement.  Guillaume’s film of Mina at work uncovers how a single picture of the mother she left behind is much more than a simple portrait. This silhouette comes to life as Mina faces the complicated challenge of exploring her complex history as a daughter and activist without the aid of visual memory.

 We began the evening with Guillaume’s film (approx. 22min) and then followed that with the artist and filmmaker in conversation. Looking at the different ways we have of communicating our memories, the pair reflected upon their collaboration and the difficulties that arise when tackling memories that exist without a visual component.

Mixed throughout was a wide ranging conversation about memory and the different ways the audience thinks about thinking, imagination, creativity and the role memory places for all of us. It was a fascinating discussion that left everyone with much to think about.