The Presence of Absence is a long-term body of work that include two photographic projects and a film. This work focuses on grief, trauma, healing and human cost of conflict.

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As a veteran, a mother, an immigrant, and a daughter of North African parents, Abergil explores how the portrayal of grieving women from different cultures powerfully motivates changes in the way we remember. The Presence of Absence shares the story of survivors that lost their beloved once in war and Casualty Notification Officers that deliver the horrific news.
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N.O.K: Next of Kin documents the effects of war on Gold Star families. Abergil traveled through the U.S. to meet with Gold Star families whose relatives were killed in action in World War II, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. She documented their methods of coping with death by preserving their loved ones’ personal effects.

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Making Peace with Death is based on interviews with Gold Star families, who describe the notification as one of their most vivid and painful memories. Abergil is meeting with the CNOs to understand the notification process itself in all its variations. (ongoing).

In the film Four Mothers, four Gold Star mothers discuss how to continue living after war. Listening to the quartet describe their grief is helpful in a very practical way. They offer guidelines for dealing with loss and how to approach others who might be struggling with grief. Although specific to the circumstances of the Gold Star families, it’s a useful manual for all of us, as we will all encounter loss, both our own and others’.

Through photographs, testimonies, and video, Abergil offers a space for peace and healing and share the story of a community of survivors who keep the memories alive as they strive to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of loss.

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Inbal Abergil is a documentary photographer and an educator. Her research focuses on the aftermath of war and the human cost of conflict, using still and moving images along with testimony to examine loss, grief, and healing. Inbal Abergil was chosen as an alter for the Smithsonian Artist Fellowship (2020). She is the recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Grant (2018), a finalist for the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship (2019), and the 2018 Documentary Essay Prize in Photography, CDS at Duke University. Her series “Nothing Left Here But The Hurt” has been nominated for the prestigious Prix Pictet Photography Prize (2012). She was selected as a 2013 FlaxArt International Artist in Residence, Northern Ireland, and was an artist in residence at Baxter St. at the Camera Club of New York (2015) and at the Sirius Arts Center, in Cobh, Ireland (2023).

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On view May 10 – June 22, 2024 Colorado Photographic Arts Cente 1200 Lincoln Street, Ste. 111, Denver, CO 80203