Bringing it all together

This is some pictures from my final installation.

Installation: preserving + touching

My idea is to create an environment that the viewer can walk through, be apart of.  The wax forms surround the viewer, through the viewers interaction with the object the act of preserving is being experienced. It is through the act of experiencing, interacting and then preserving that memory is passed down. The wax forms themselves were created by the memory of one individual hand, through the action of another hand interacting(holding the waxed form) and responding to the feel of the memory of another hand, the viewers mind embeds the memory through touching.

Interactive Timeline

I wanted to create a way for all my family to be able to bring their memories together. This is a mock up of how I would collect data through an interactive site on the internet. This would also be used to show data, not only could my family upload pictures and type stories by date but everyone collectively would have access to view this history.

The need to remember....

Why do we have this need to remember? Are we afraid of forgetting the past, what we saw, what we heard, what we felt, what we tasted.  Senses play this large role in remembering,  preserving it. But what happens when the taste leaves your mouth, when touch can't be felt, when a voice can't be heard, when a vision can not be seen. It is human nature to try to save it for ourselves. I've been thinking a lot about senses, our sense of touch and feel. I made these forms out of wax, hoping to investigate further forms that would allow me to capture the touch of the hand. The gripping of hands to me is the most personal level, very different from shaking hands, or holding hands during prayer. Some may disagree but the gripping of hands in my world is more sacred than a kiss. Only for close family and relationships in your life. I can remember my great grandmother even at 102 grabbing my hand the minute I got there, her skin soft felt like it had been transformed back into its original state like a babies butt.  I'm interested in experimenting with wax due to it's ability to take form in your creases, to take shape in your touch. It has these transparent quality that can be used in many ways. Layering an image or showing what it contains. It can capture warmth like a living hand. It has this amazing ability to preserve when cooled and melt away when heated. Not sure where I'm going next I want to compare it to water see where that goes.....

2008-

In the last 100 years the diversity within each crop has decreased drastically. Added with the pressure of crop production at the expense of the soil and land. Today they're only 5 different types of potatoes compared to over 300 hundred just centuries ago. This has left it more susceptible to uncontrollable disease, like we saw in many potato famine.

The mistreatment of the United States Economy did not start today. Just like the potato famine was caused by many layers, the US Economy has suffered from years of focusing on quick dollar instead of the consideration of its affect and the big picture.

1845-1918 2008-

Today is September 29, 2008 and when asked how I felt about the events that unfolded today , it just all seems frustratingly out of my control. I created this image out of the feeling. A dollar, a potato in themselves not sustainable but as a quantity has the power to sustain the masses. I think about the affects today will have on me and my community directly and indirectly.
The potato famine in Ireland started in 1945 fifty years before my granny was even a live. The affects of her family and country's poverty she had no control over, she was just affected. She was shipped to America at 18 because their was no more room in her house and not enough food to go around.
My own home, Detroit is in a scary state from the fall of the big 3 and the trickle affect of the countries bad economy. Foreclosures, unemployment on a rise. I would love t0 end up in Detroit but due to the job market I may be forced like many graduating Michiganders to go where the opportunity is.

The symbols of her life

I've been thinking about how to go about this idea I am exploring. And I think before I can start layering old documents and meaningful items. I need to think about what are the symbol that defined her life that will take forefront to the layer backgrounds I will create with her left pieces. Combining primary and secondary elements I hope will give the illusion of "peering in" for the viewer. I have this need to make it feel like the past, a captured moment and I'm going to use that idea to create a overall "sense" of the work. Just as a camera allows a place to look into, the primary symbols will create a defined border to peer into.

What are her symbols:
Are they her fundamental beliefs, her image, her children, the history she lived in, the history she made, the places she made marks on, what bordered her life, what connected it all together.