The Repository of Forgetting
The Repository of Forgetting is a drawer-like sculptural installation containing eleven video channels. The work was inspired by the drawers of a wardrobe in my mother's room, who is living with Alzheimer's disease.
One of the most common symptoms experienced by people with Alzheimer's disease is the delusion of theft. Unable to remember where they have placed important belongings, they may come to believe that someone has stolen them. The more carefully they hide their possessions to prevent theft, the more difficult those objects become to find, creating a recurring cycle.
In my mother's drawers, all kinds of miscellaneous objects are concealed between layers of clothing, as though they were precious treasures. I came to see these drawers as a space that symbolically reveals a paradoxical struggle: the desperate attempt of someone losing their memory to preserve what is slipping away.
The eleven video channels embedded within The Repository of Forgetting are composed of images taken from my mother's family photo albums. I first introduced subtle movements to these images using Adobe After Effects, then printed them and physically altered them through various techniques, including erasing parts of the images with xylene, applying acrylic and oil paint, and using monoprinting. These manually transformed images were then reintroduced into the moving-image process.
Each drawer is designed to open and close in different directions. The videos, visible through translucent acrylic panels, create the impression of fragmented traces of uncertain memories flickering and shifting beneath the surface.
