a trace of memory text

the drumcroon gallery

A trace of memory

This is an exhibition about memory, about remembering - recalling experiences or impressions. The artists allude to memories that are both real and imagined, finding their own visual language in pursuit of lines and marks that have a very personal resonance. Often the marks are indistinct, fragile, barely there. Tracing the evidence of past moments, the work becomes a document of a relationship or event. A glimpse of a button or a fragment of handwriting can trigger memories. These tiny inconsequential objects have the power to summon voices, conversations, conjure moments that perhaps had been forgotten. So much of this trail of evidence is domestic, found in the home. The exhibition celebrates the intimacy of domestic remnants and the histories and stories of the lives of women. Memory is a fragile fabric, to be traced, discovered. It can be imperceptible yet the process of searching and making connections transforms. The juxtaposing of objects and textures, the ring of a tea stain on a hand written envelope, enables connections to be made, moments to be lived again. The home is the theatre in which existence can be traced and documented, it's fabric recording the texture of our daily lives.

10th September - 15th October

The Language of Ghosts - Henny Burnett

Henny creates large scale installations out of materials which have a profound emotional impact and communicate something very personal about her life experience. Henny has had an ongoing preoccupation with the development of imagery concerned with fragility and transience. Elements from her inherited collection of family memorabilia often become incorporated into the forms and structures she creates. Veils are printed with fragmented images from different eras - photographs, wedding lists, orders of service - and handbags become vehicles for tiny miniature domestic utensils such as a food mixer and a dustpan and brush. Her installations are rooted in the fabric of the home, exploring impermanence and memory.

Jennifer Collier

Jennifer creates innovative textiles and craft pieces using fruit. Through methods of weaving, waxing, knitting and stitching fruit and peel she creates unusual materials which are then developed into garments and accessories. She often utilises plastics and fabrics into her pieces. The works have the power to communicate ideas about recycling, as well as themes exploring the body. Jennifer's work is often inspired by literature. A collection of shoes and dresses was inspired by 'Oranges are not the only fruit' by Jeanette Winterson. The work is non-functional and aims to encourage people to speculate on the nature of value. Jennifer enjoys the idea of working with disposable organic materials that are transient in nature, imbuing them with worth and creating something intriguing of great beauty.

Julie Haslam

Julie design company, Domestic Bliss, is a fusion of digital technology and traditional concepts. The fusion of technology and product driven design is used to create home interior products inspired by every day, familiar, domestic experiences. Her work transforms these experiences into must-have accessories for the design conscious. Ironing board covers and cheese boards inspire memory, making reference to collected memorabilia from an earlier age.

Anna Lewis

Anna has had an enduring fascination with personal history and the importance of memory in preserving personal identity. Her works are inspired by family photography and the strong bonds created with personal possessions that have the power to evoke memory. The delicate nature of Anna's work is full of metaphor, expressing the ephemeral nature of memory. She works with feathers, sometimes printed with traces of imagery, enjoying their delicate qualities, but also employing their symbolic possibilities. A feather is said to be the measure of a soul, and Anna's emotional body pieces drape the neck and shoulders like a security blanket. The sensitivity and lightness of the feathers is juxtaposed with the idea of memory being heavy with meaning.

Emer O'Sullivan
Emer draws inspiration form objects that were once an essential part of domestic household activities. Her studio displays a collection of rusting ladles and colanders, alongside fragments of old lace and wallpaper. Emer is fascinated by the environments that once housed these objects. Her curiosity for enamel jugs and miscellaneous cups and saucers inside wallpapered cupboards help to initiate ideas that are then developed in ceramics and textiles. She creates slab built utilitarian ware and functional vessels using earthenware clay. These carry traces of lace and stitched fabric, impressed into the clay to create subtle texture and evoke nostalgia for the past. Her ceramics, textiles and drawings have a quiet, delicate quality, reflecting the intangible, fragile sense of memory.

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