Preview
Creation Date
2021
Description
Materials: Charcoal and graphite on paper
Dimensions: 12.5 inches round
Project Advisor: Benjamin D. Rinehart
Year of Graduation: 2022
Medium
Drawing
Rights
Copyright for this work is held by the artist.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
COinS
Artist Statement
Memories are formed and embodied in the physical environment, where the subjective experience intertwines with the material world in ever-changing and complex ways. In this work, I refer to old photographs that help me remember and retain memories. Whether I’m the photographer or the photographed subject, photographs document valuable evidence for understanding the past: a collection of memories that are fragile, prone to change, and easily forgotten, but can also be mesmerizing, penetrating, and everlasting. I view photographs as clues to trace to a specific time and space and revisiting them is an introspection and extrospection of significant moments for myself.
I intentionally focus on value without color, an element often missing from memories, and use charcoal and graphite to recapture what was seen and perceived in that moment. Charcoal and graphite are forgiving and variable, allowing me to build up layers of texture that interact with the surface of the paper. My drawing process not only tries to produce a visual expression but is also an effort to mimic the struggles of recalling. The viewers are invited to enter a scenario from a first-person perspective, but their perspective is cut off by the circular canvas that invokes a sense of loss. What is seen is only a fragmented moment with missing information. Through creating pieces of memory, I attempt to reveal the deeper emotions and meanings tied to a familiar landscape from the past.