After ripping my painting, I started arranging it into different piles, folding it up and layering the pieces. This process was both an exercise in composition and a metaphor for the indexing (and losing) of memories in the brain. In the brain and in my actions there was folding and layering, visible bits and hidden bits, threads everywhere, and an underlying narrative throughout.
After a while of playing around with this, I decided to start documenting the different compositions, realizing each iteration was its own "final piece". I called my parents to chat while the camera battery charged and they pointed out that it looked like I was folding the painting pieces to literally put them away. And it all came full circle. I had been reenacting the process of passing down memories, and losing memories, from generation to generation. I had been trying to save the memories my grandparents had of my mom's childhood. Literally trying to store them for them, for her, for me.
Te Guardo Los Olvidos, Acrylic Paint, Embroidery Thready and Synthetic String on Ripped and Folded Canvas
"Te guardo" means "I'll keep this for you" or "I'll put this away for you". "Los olvidos" translates to "the things you've forgotten" or "forgettings" if that were a real word... Its quite hard to translate this phrase, the title of my piece, from spanish to english. It could be "I'll keep what you've forgotten", but with an undertone of care and longing. It's a gestural phrase, an offer to store away the memories that someone else is losing.
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