The Red Lady

I didn't want to bombard you with too many pictures at once :: the excitement might just have thrown some of you into a frenzied state :: that frankly I did not want to be responsible for. So, in my aging wisdom I took the liberty of staggering the photos in few posts. I know this subject of the exhibition seems to be eternal but I'm milking it for all I can :: as it is probably the highlight of my year so far!

My work has been concentrating on memory + how that can shift + change. A person's experience of something can lead to a different memory of how another also experienced it. As I was working in that old dilapidated house I was struck by the memories that were embedded and seeped into the walls. And how I have now participated in adding to the memories of that house. I found an old piece of wallpaper at the house. I was taken by the delicateness of the image on it surrounded by the rubble in the house and it started to speak to me in a way. I painted the image of a lady on the wall, which I also did in the house + the memory of her changed again from that of her in the house in Kent. I became slightly obsessed with this lady on the wallpaper + was trying to capture a sense of the memory of this lady + who she was. Whilst I was painting her on the wall she started to change + transform into a different memory of who she was originally to me.

My work often focus on the little insignificant details that are often overlooked + taken for granted. I'm also fascinated by repetition + continuity, endeavoring to make something more important than it would normally appear. In one of the volumes I painted one lady in gold leaf + also framed a picture with one lady painted in gold leaf to try and preserve her sense of preciousness.

I choose to make small volumes [1-32] of the red lady :: like documenting a memoir of her :: whilst also suggesting the idea of a family album :: We keep photos to preserve memories of a specific time... place ... person...::

'Family portraits are part of the ritual of family life and contribute to a sense of continuity and personal identity. They are collected and preserved to revive warm memories about a past that is part reality, part fantasy. They are above all, desired pictures, which someone has chosen to make and reserve, and in which the subjects present themselves as they want to be seen' Patricia Holland.

Working with this old discarded wallpaper in essence I'm trying to capture the memories before they fade, crumble + disappear :: I'm ensuring they are remembered by a new audience + their memories are distilled ::