This little book was inspired by the exhibition of the same name ‘In Loving Memory’, which brought together three artists to talk about how they hold onto memory of their past selves and loved ones through objects.
In an opportunity for more pause, more reflection, on this tricky, slippy, solid, ‘thing’ of memory, soppy with nostalgia or hard with fear and spiked by joy, and to have something to hold, you will find in these pages poems, articles, and writing by the curator Charlotte, arts journalist and artist Sofia Hallström, and writer and arts curator Jean Watt.
Kasia Wozniak, Damaris Athene and Marie Obegi looked at these tools (the body, phones, even the very materials that make their work like glass and aluminium) to commemorate the infinite versions of ourselves we have been, and the many memories, true or not, that make us who we are.
Three scientists; Wozniak traps memories compressed onto silver plates finding the figurative in collected forms over the years, Obgei paints a psychological series of suggested iPhone photographs awkward, painful, funny, sweet memories thrust upon her in a notification ping, and Athene gives glass form to how our memories are held outside our minds and in our bodies.
After suffering temporary memory loss which was regained through retraining in the form of telling stories through objects, coupled with a hope that ‘it will come back to me’, the nebulous concept of memory building seemed so rooted in safe, solid objects. Forget-me-nots in the form of notes on the back of photo frames, a graduation suit, a specific smell, and dog-eared books.
With special thanks to Sofia Hallström, Jean Watt, Kasia Wozniak, Marie Obegi, Damaris Athene, Lita Albuquerque, and Marian Goodman Gallery.