Projects
/
Project

Memory Bank

Dates

2019 - Ongoing
Author

Kent Andreasen

Memory Bank as the name suggests is the study of my thoughts both then and now. It investigates the relationship I have with myself and often times with the act of photography.

The work even goes as far as exploring various devices used to capture images both artistically or in a practical sense.

The focus of the imagery is my constant frustration with the medium of photography, spending time at home versus being on the road for work, immediate homesickness, past relationships, heartbreak, traumas, family, mental health/illness and the repetitive failings of my memory. What are we able to trust of what has come and how helpful is it to our present and ultimately future selves? An Interrogation of my dreams, imagination and everything that makes up my conscious and subconscious mind.

This distrust is the step off point for the work and has allowed me to explore these themes with flexibility that I haven’t afforded myself. With this blank slate I am able to pull from my archive, recreate scenes from life, explore collaborations with fellow artists and ignore my standard practice to the point where I hope that this becomes how I work moving forward.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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Some of the first commercial jobs I got as a photographer were working for the De Beers who heads up diamond mining in Southern Africa and beyond. I loved these projects because I had all access to industry that was for the most part highly restricted from the general public. I got see first hand the scale of the machine that is mining and how far away from morals it had gone.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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Capturing the feeling of my childhood and living right on the forest. I look back and wish I had spent more time out there exploring and having fun.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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Cape Town is known for its brutal winter storms and often called the “Cape of storms” by many captains over the years. This day we saw a new record as the high water mark far surpassed that of earlier years. This car fell victim to the unusual weather system as the ocean whipped up an extraordinary amount of sea foam that then washed ashore. Its interesting to see a place you have lived your entire life and its memory be altered by the weather and our hand in it.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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An image I made of one of my photographs that I got made into a puzzle. It’s interesting to see how the relationship with an image can change when it’s transformed into a recreation and fun.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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Chasing fires has been something that has been apart of my photography since I began shooting and had a driver’s license. The power of them is incredibly alluring for me and I like to see how firefighters work under immense strain and pressure to keep them away from property and the ecology of Cape Town’s fragile mountain reserve. The strong Southeast winds of summer often fan fires caused by irresponsible motorists who throw their cigarette butts out the window. These fires move rapidly and the smoke will engulf parts of the coast giving the ocean an orange glow as the sun attempts to penetrate.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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For the longest time I thought this what the gun that my uncle took his life with. I had memories of my parents talking about it. I’ve come discover this is in fact a gun my dad inherited from his father and is completely unrelated. My father actually looks like Clint Eastwood did when he was younger and this Magnum 44 was used in the movie Dirty that starred the actor. I vacuum packed the firearm as if it was evidence/false evidence and the white daisies symbolize innocence and purity.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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Do heaven and hell exist? As someone who is agnostic its something I try not spend time thinking much about. But every so often I do and wonder where I will go.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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The Quagga is subspecies of plains zebra that was endemic to South Africa till it was hunted into extinction. I made this image of its rump at the Natural History Museum of Cape Town while on visit. Its feels like a family member that you never got to meet due to their untimely passing. You can notice its lack of stripes toward its hind legs.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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Chase money or make work that feels your own? This is something I have toyed with since I stared as a photographer and figuring out how to get a balance. Sometimes I wish someone would send me a briefcase full of money.

© Kent Andreasen - A symbol of purity

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A symbol of purity

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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A Diorama at the Natural History Museum of Cape Town. The scene depicts the famous view of Table Mountain and I cant help wonder what it must have been like before we took over.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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“The twins” are representative of my varied outlook at my work at any given time in a month. It feels like in a constant battle with my thoughts and approach. The prop gun the one twin hold is a symbol of this battle I find myself in with my own thoughts and ideas.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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In 2010,my older brother had a stroke that was induced by some stress he was going through at the time. I was fresh out of school and on a “gap” year in China and Thailand. My brother had visited me a week before this happened and I was shaken by the news when I heard. He was fortunate that he was young and was able to recover quickly from the ordeal. It took 19 years to realize how fragile life was.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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In 2010,my older brother had a stroke that was induced by some stress he was going through at the time. I was fresh out of school and on a “gap” year in China and Thailand. My brother had visited me a week before this happened and I was shaken by the news when I heard. He was fortunate that he was young and was able to recover quickly from the ordeal. It took 19 years to realize how fragile life was.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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The spectacle of the Grand Canyon was overshadowed by the people’s interactions that came to see it. I’ve always found how as a species we are drawn to places of wonder and how we often get caught up in making sure that moment counts. This gentleman caught my eye as he looked down over the awe-inspiring canyon. His neck seemed to elongate as if to get a better view than his fellow tourists.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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I got a call early one morning from a friend saying that a whale shark had washed onto a well-known beach of Cape Town called Camps Bay. I thought I was hearing things but jumped into the car to investigate. There was a crowd circling the large fish and I managed to muscle my way through and snap a few images. These animals aren’t normally seen this far down south. There is speculation that the animal died and got washed by winter storms down the coastline and came ashore. The big gash on its side is believed to have been cause by people who were collecting parts of its organs for medicine.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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I took a trip to Morocco with my best friend in search of waves. The waves didn’t show up as we expected so we headed off to the Atlas Mountains for a few days to see a bit more of the country than just the coast. We happened to time it just as a blizzard hit and we go stuck in a traffic jam for 6 hours because trucks had overturned on a mountain pass. This dog was patrolling the cars and begging for food. Many people obliged and some even wept at the thought that the dog may succumb to the brutal conditions of the storm. I snapped this image with the feeling that this dog had seen many of these weather events and was just using his survival techniques to get extra food here and there. Maybe people were projecting their fear of the uncertainty of the situation on this animal?

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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Youths climb aboard the wreck of the Antipolis, which ran aground in 1977. A storm further lifted the wreck up the beach exposing a large portion of the ship.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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Two friends before a party that I wasn’t sure I attended. This apartment block had stuck in my mind but I wasn’t sure if I had dreamt it. After months of deliberation I reached out to the owner to verify if her block, was in fact Ox Blood. She verified and the image was made.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project

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Spencer works at a bird rehabilitation center in Cape Town. I was visiting the park one day and noticed him cleaning out one of the owl enclosures. He seemed to disappear from sight like he didn’t want visitors to know he was there. For ages, I wasn’t sure if I had really seen the gentleman, with a thug life tattoo cleaning a big birdcage or not. He felt so out of place. A few years past and I went back to find out if someone like him matched the description. They said –“Yeah that’s Spencer”. Turns out the guy who looks like a gangster is an extremely soft-spoken individual with a deep love for animals. He just so happens to collect replica Tupac Tattoos.