History of Memory
In 1999 I began a series titled, History of Memory. These works are based on recollections of past experiences, primarily childhood, and how we recreate ourselves from invented memory. The works became an exploration into the idea that we are connected to the experiences of our ancestry, whether we actually remember or live through events ourselves. Although the works reference my personal history, with images taken from family photographs, I am more concerned with a universal awareness of nostalgia.
The History of Memory series takes form in sepia toned canvases with lace patterns stenciled over images of children and various objects. The figures, blurred by the lace patterning, are purposely vague, sometimes fading, in order to enhance the sense of nostalgia. The paintings are visually saturated layers with fragile nuances of incompleteness, and uneasy and ambiguous in interpretation. By using the sepia tone on tone, I try to make the paintings slow and meditative rather than immediate in effect, working towards a vision that can be returned to like a memory.