Erased (work in progress) is a body of work that focuses on the experience of loss and the fragility of memory. It has developed into several sub-series using archival material, photography and multi-media.
The frenetic pace of our mediatised world is inherently amnesiac and undoubtedly has a profound impact on how we think and relay our experiences. There seems to be a constant encroachment on our mental space and a marked absence of collective rituals to enable processes of commemorating and grieving when facing loss. Furthermore, the blurring of temporal structures seems to bring about an erosion of memory as it is becoming increasingly difficult to mark time and even retain a sense of when events happened. As such, this piece could be termed as a ‘negative memorial’ as forgetting seems to be the most probable outcome within our struggle against high-tech amnesia.
- Sub-series 1: In Erased, the image of my mother was removed from several family snapshots in anticipation of forgetting. What was once markers of life’s important moments of family, travel or glamour now have become empty stages where rituals and aspirations once unravelled. The snapshots span the near 100 years of her life from her starting point in 1925 in Tiberias, Palestine in1925 to her endpoint in 2019 in London, England. In between, as borders reformed, she lived through many conflicts and displacements and each generation counted a new land and a new language. As originating from a minority in the Middle-East, there are few records or traces to relay her history or that of her family. Therefore, there seems to be a double-helix of erasure, one due to a hidden persecuted history and the other due to an increasing annulment of memory
- Sub-series 2: In Index of Objects, my late mother’s objects are displayed as purposed for catalogue and study. These objects, which can act as repositories of memory, would have belonged to her personal sphere as part of her grooming routine and thus, speak of an index of femininity over many decades. However, they also denote unfulfilled desires as several remained unused and preciously kept in their original packaging.