To remember... / 记得: the martin thomas memorial artwork

To Remember / 记得 (2025) 25 mins, super 8, 16mm and 35mm: digitised.

To remember / 记得 is an experimental documentary in 'filmmedicine' that celebrates the life and work of Dr. Martin Thomas (1974–2022), researcher in Chinese-English multimodal translation at the University of Leeds.

Shot entirely on celluloid (super 8, 16mm and 35mm), the film evolved through a year-long process of collaboration with Martin’s friends and colleagues: conversations, solo and group walks in spaces and places he moved through, and darkroom experimentation drawing upon Martin's research into multimodality and archive of toothpaste packaging. The soundtrack centres people's experiences and memories of Martin.

The film mirrors the non-linear, fragmentary experience of grieving. It attempts to embody the emotional textures of remembrance—where sound and image often drift apart, and presence is felt through absence. Martin is evoked in glimpses: the reminiscences of his friends, sentimental objects from his home, his notebooks read aloud, and tactile imprints of his handwriting.

Animals encountered while walking in Martin’s footsteps guide us on our journey as we explore the porous boundaries between the past and the present; between this life and what comes after. To remember / 记得 is a poetic act of mourning—multisensory, collaborative, and deeply alive.

‘To remember / 记得’: an exhibition of photographs by Joanna Byrne tracing Martin’s walks through Leeds, is now on permanent display in the Martin Thomas Translation Labs, University of Leeds.