Mementos
Mementos represents a fascination with objects and memories. People tend to form emotional attachments to things that convey unique and individual meaning beyond their objective content. They become a source of reflection for a person, place or time. Mementos focuses on the way we identify with objects as memories. I incorporate both found and crafted materials, specifically using glass to draw parallels between the preciousness of objects and memories. The thematic content may be characterized as an archive of impressions and recollections in a style that is conspicuously rural. Conceptually based on my experiences growing up, the works reflect not only a personal narrative but invite the viewer to contemplate broader relationships between objects and identity, visual forms and memory.
The Taxonomy of Memory
The Taxonomy of Memory consists of three printers drawers, mounted on the wall. Each drawer contains individual blocks of glass that capture the negative images of particular objects. The objects are the mementos and souvenirs of the past taken from my personal collections and those of friends and family. They are a snapshot of individual memories juxtaposed together in a seemingly indiscriminate way.
Curios
Curios is a large turn of the century display cabinet containing 18 individual drawers that can be viewed from the top, front and both sides through large panes of glass. Originally the cabinet would have held 24 drawers on three levels with eight drawers per level. Six drawers have been removed, creating negative spaces that serve to break up the density of the piece and further reveal contents of the drawers that would otherwise be obscured. Each drawer is a separate composition that contains various objects.
There is a great juxtaposition between the objects in both what is found versus what is crafted, and in how the objects relate to one another conceptually, as separate drawers and as a whole. Some of the drawers have an underlying order and economy of information, while others are clustered, busy and seemingly chaotic. The basis of the work is an exploration of the appeal, organization, and display of objects and how the various objects conjure associations to memories, thoughts and ideas - both personal and collective, by their relationship with other objects.
There is a great juxtaposition between the objects in both what is found versus what is crafted, and in how the objects relate to one another conceptually, as separate drawers and as a whole. Some of the drawers have an underlying order and economy of information, while others are clustered, busy and seemingly chaotic. The basis of the work is an exploration of the appeal, organization, and display of objects and how the various objects conjure associations to memories, thoughts and ideas - both personal and collective, by their relationship with other objects.
