Fragments of Memory

My art and research practice often involves how memory functions and how we store and recall memories of our past. Memory plays an essential part in how individuals and groups construct their identities. To understand how memory affects identity, one must first understand how individuals come to remember and identify themselves. The ability to remember comes not only from presence but also from what is absent. Memory, remembering and forgetting are closely linked on an individual and collective level. Our recollections however are often fictional and what we choose to store is subjective in nature. My artistic practice continually challenges the question “What is the truth of our memories?”  

In my current series Fragments of Memory, I explore how memory can be reconstructed from the pieces stored in our brains. This work explores the process of reassembled memories where strong abstract features are used to construct memory recall.  The act of remembering is influenced by various other cognitive processes including perception and imagination which are often subject to error and distortions.

The paintings are sculptural in nature and are broken into sections as a way of allowing memories to be reconstructed. I begin by building up the surface of each painting, followed with a process of destruction and deterioration, peeling back individual layers through physical deconstruction by sanding, carving, and detaching. This layered structure is the basis of my artistic practice where I conceptually excavate or replace memory with subsequent layers.