My personal work has focused on memory for the last decade, exploring the topic from a different angle in each body of work, how it shapes us, changing our perception of the world around us.
Remember, Last Summer explores ways in which the emotions held within a memory can be triggered by unrelated events, it is a collection of found places, traces of the passing of others, the leftovers of their time spent if you will.
I am not recalling my own memories, more the possibility of a memory, therefore creating something new that I like to call found memories. Childhood really lends itself to this exercise as it is usually fueled by innocence and blissfulness. The aim is to have the viewers recollect their own childhood stories whilst looking at a particular print, potentially resulting in a little endorphin peak, that warm fuzzy feeling.
On a personal level, I watched my grandparents spiral down into dementia. I watched as memories, whole sections of their lives, disappeared for ever, how I became "the very pregnant girlie" and was no longer my grandmother's granddaughter. In the last years I had many conversations with her, she would mainly recall her adventures as a child, I could see her soul shine in her eyes. Those moments with her were priceless.
I believe certain memories hold the power to heal our damaged minds. Finding a way to facilitate those emotions with my imagery is what gives me that warm fuzzy feeling.
