artist statement and presentation

Artists I was influenced by have been Kasia Larsen, Mika Nakamura-Mather, Christian Boltanski and Zilvanis Kempinas to name a few. In addition the writings of Roland Barthes in Camera Lucida as well as Theresa Moerman in her thesis The Magic Mirror have played a large role in my musings.

The work started off with the repetition of an image my mother and I from childhood, printed on tea bags. It was an exploration into memory and connecting over a cup of tea as well as loss. The work evolved as I looked into family videos in search of mum’s essence. Zilvanis Kempinas’ work Columns (2006) made up of VHS magnetic videotape reaching to the ceiling of the QAG enlightened my work. It was commenting on the role of technology in society and, as the videotape held images of the past which were now almost obsolete due to changing technology, a suggestion that technology was not the utopian impulse it had perhaps promised.

My work thus evolved into an exploration of how we utilize technology to capture and preserve memories of the past which become very precious particularly in the light of loss. We look to images or film to satisfy our desire to see that person/ people again yet of course their essence cannot be captured instead just fragments of their existence at particular times is what is evident. Repetition is a key element in my work – a sense of searching for this essence as Roland Barthes searched through his family photos for his mother’s essence. I found looking into the family archives highlighted my mum’s absence and her absented presence becomes magnified by the strange disconnection I felt when viewing her in real time here and now yet not being able to reach out and touch or engage with her.

Photographs or film immortalize their subjects yet they are stuck in the past and serve as reminders of what was but also what has been lost. In Transcendence Dr Will Castor (Johnny Depp) seeks immortality through technology and computer programmes. In my work I propose to offer a seed of hope through the material used – the everyday tea bag. Once emptied it is only a shell does the essence of the tea, the leaves, live on and bring life elsewhere ?