Here Before, After & Always

Lithography series on poly-cotton, 2021

 

Ongoing the idea of revisiting my mother’s archive through photographs and her writings, through the rediscovery of my mother through locations and people. The revisiting of my mother’s archive came with the idea of finding her likeness through photographs of her and her journal entries. My intention with this work is to relocate my mother’s presence and memory in spaces and in people’s words rather than a recollection of my own memory of her. Through this work, I am allowing myself to explore deeper into the person my mother was by embracing the people who were a part of her life and the spaces she once walked while still alive. 

The visual aspect of the photographs captured in her childhood home. The living room resembles much of the same as it did when I was young and felt it was the most fitting room that I could feel like I can reconnect with my mother in some way. Through this comes the idea of hauntology and the merging of the spiritual realm with the present time. I captured the stills of the room and graded it in colours that appear to be memory-like and somewhat hazy, interpreting the idea of distorted memory and a ghostly feel as these locations whether or not at the time were/are occupied and embraced with my mother’s presence. It will always feel as though a memory of her will always remain attached and associated to these spaces. Alongside this, merging the silhouette figures of my mother from archival photographs within the photography reinforces the hopeful nature of her presence being felt.