So Here We Are...

As part of my work into our connection to images and our perception on memory i created a book called

(So Here We Are)

From my reading and understanding of psychology, I am intrigued by the concept that the formation of a strong identity is influenced by the agreement between past and present states of consciousness; and the role that subconscious memories have in forming the conscious. 

“memory [is] a finger-mark traced on shifting sand, ever exposed to obliteration when left unrenewed; and if renewed, then modified, and made, not the same, but a fresh and different mark.” Frances Power Cobbe - The Fallacies of Memory (1867)

“We cannot truly grasp the language of our dreams in the conscious process” Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams.

I understand that the ‘state of memory’ is inherently subjective and that any recollection of a dream or memory, which when processed, reprocessed over time and fused with the conscious, can fall out of context and be retrospectively idealised. 

However, by attempting to analyse certain aspects of my past in pictorial isolation, I hope to form some kind of framework, albeit built in sand, where I can represent my ‘conscious agreement’ – my identity’s ‘snapshot in time’. A major part of this ‘framework’ focuses on the relationship I have with my mother and is explored by means of a rich combination of staged images with strong allegorical content.  I also hope that the process as a whole will lead to a greater understanding of issues that elude me in rational conscious reflection and that my work will serve as a visual metaphor for what has made me into the person I am today …… but not necessarily yesterday ……. or tomorrow!