Tim Roda’s photographs combine private memory with
invented history to construct a broken narrative
about personal identity and intergenerational
relations. This work draws upon his eccentric
upbringing in a working class immigrant family, as
well as his present day family. Roda creates rich
tableaux full of shoddy props and enigmatic
symbols that add up to a fractured family theatre.

Roda’s ongoing project has gained momentum over
the years, assuming the form of a beguiling family
picture album that acknowledges its artifice, yet
presents a “truth” that resonates more strongly
than a reenactment of memory. His vision – devoid
of sugar-coated nostalgia and bittersweet irony –
is characterized by a pervasive sense of the
absurd that is punctuated by notes of foreboding
uncertainty, longing and baffling humour. The work
delights, frightens and taunts. It confuses moods
and eras. It promises a glimpse of the artist and
his loved ones only to contradict itself at the
next turn. Lost amidst the bric-a-brac, DIY
aesthetic of his imagery, we feel gently duped,
yet never left craving something more “real”. It
is easy to forgive the deceitfulness of these
photographs, if only because the artist seems to
forgive the personal pain and perplexity suggested
in his work.