Emilie Thornett Oayda
Kincoppal - Rose Bay School of the Sacred Heart
MEMORIES LEFT BEHIND - SHATTERED
Drawing
ink pen on clay
Our memories are what define us, but what happens when they are shattered as a result of trauma? Memory’s fragility means it is subject to loss and distortion, affecting one’s perception of both past and present identity. My intent was to explore how the brain copes with suffering through a detachment from the external self. My personal experience of dissociative disorder has left me struggling to put the shattered pieces of the past together again. What is left of these fleeting and fragmented memories is presented to the audience as the sparse remnants of a stable sense of self.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Isabella Edwards; Kuang Chu (Liu Zheng), Red Balloon series; Marija Tiurina, The Town of Thoughts; Henrietta Harris; Amie Luczkowski-Gibson.
Marker's Commentary
Memories left behind-Shattered selects and combines familiar domestic materials of ceramic and lace to evoke a sense of the recent past and fragmented memories. The glimpses into interiors and exteriors are linked through the colour pallet and the recognisable everyday features that serve to connect the experiences of these to the audience. The imagery which appears lightly etched into pieces of ceramic seems to belong to a bigger picture that does not quite fit together in a benign world and our ability to resolve these fragments as complete. The soft ivory lace on which the shattered pieces of life sit has been subtly embodied with text drawing the viewer deeper into the concepts that underpin the work. The restrained colour pallet and considered materials selection aids in layering the conceptual intent in rich and engaging ways. The lace may reference the wedding dress in which one starts a new life, while also referring to the curtains behind which we may view the world, while hidden away, so as to not be seen. The curatorial selection of elements act as symbols and play to our memory. The work successfully draws the audience in, gazing on the shattered fragments of a life and asks how together these pieces would complete a world.