Artist Statement

Memory is impure, it fades, changes and can be incorrect. This fact explains why two people can remember the same event in such different ways. All memories hold different kinds of power, even those that seem to be ridiculous. Experiencing snippets of someone else’s past can unlock pieces of your own. It creates a small reminder to remember and appreciate the moments you have experienced and to share them with those who wish to hold onto them. Through painting, I attempt to preserve my personal experience, my narrative, and my history by sharing them in an exhibition that speaks to the poetic.

The essence of a person is made up of the stories that they tell, the community they surround themselves with, and the places they have been. While researching memory and coming to understand narrative identity, I realized that the environment is married to experience, even when it can be easily overlooked. Spaces are just as temporary and ever-changing as memory is. Parks are torn down and family homes are sold.

A sense of personal history and the privilege of knowing about one's past, where one came from has become very important to me. I don't have that privilege. I knew that collecting memories had to start somewhere. Many of my family's memories have been lost, but perhaps I can share mine with those who come after me. My goal within my body of work and the idea of memory is to preserve everything I can still remember, even those seemingly ridiculous and small moments because that is who I am, who my family is, and that is how life is. Not everything is perfect, staged, or something right out of a storybook. It is the lost kite, the dropped meatloaf, the enjoyment of snowfall on a winter night. This collection of impermanent histories is my story, the only one which I can know intimately.

This body of work has come the closest to uncovering and sharing my ideas. It has become my preserved history. I know nothing remains forever, especially memory but, I would love to share these impermanent histories to see how long a part of me will remain in others’ minds.

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