Wish you were there

Vintage wooden spoon rack, souvenir spoons, perspex, oil paint, resin, mixed media, 2019

This work explores the concept of distorted memory in one’s own life. Memories of life events become reframed after being retold to make them more palatable. Bad decisions or experiences, fears, joyous moments and achievements are distorted over time as they are laid and again re-laid as memories. A souvenir is something collected from a visit to a place, but instead of literal place, this is a place in time.

Memory is mutable and fallible. A series of 12 miniature oil paintings adorn the tips of souvenir spoons on a circular rack. Each painted spoon represents a memory of an event from my life. But there is no beginning, middle or end on the rack. What if I could delete a memory altogether and replace it with a nicer one? Perhaps a life story can be smoothed over by choosing alternative memories from other spoons nearby.