Memory Bank

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project © Kent Andreasen - Luke with a broken Nose. © Kent Andreasen - Overachiever View all images ↓
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An exploration of memories and failed memories, informed by place, family, death, love, and the overall human experience.

"Memory Bank" is the study of my thoughts, both past and present. It investigates the relationship I have with myself and, often, with the act of photography. The work even goes as far as exploring various devices used to capture images, both artistically and practically.

The focus of the imagery is my constant frustration with the medium of photography, the contrast between 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 can we trust of what has passed, and how helpful is it to our present and, ultimately, future selves?

This distrust is the starting point for the work and has allowed me to explore these themes with a flexibility that I haven't allowed myself before. With this blank slate, I can draw from my archive, recreate scenes from my life, explore collaborations with fellow artists, and even draw inspiration from my dreams. I hope that this becomes my new standard practice moving forward.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project
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For the longest time, I thought this was the gun my uncle used to take his life. I had memories of my parents talking about it. I later discovered my dad inherited it from his father, and that it was completely unrelated to my uncle’s death.

© Kent Andreasen - Luke with a broken Nose.
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Luke with a broken Nose.

© Kent Andreasen - Overachiever
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Overachiever

© Kent Andreasen - A diorama at the Natural History Museum of Cape Town. It depicts the famous view of Table Mountai
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A diorama at the Natural History Museum of Cape Town. It depicts the famous view of Table Mountai

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project
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Lizzy and the sand flies I went on a trip down the Orange River, which is the longest river in South Africa. We slept outside and spent a few days following its path.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project
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Spencer(Tupac Tattoos) works at a bird rehabilitation center in Cape Town. While visiting the park one day, I noticed him cleaning out one of the owl enclosures. He seemed to disappear from sight, as if he didn't want visitors to know he was there.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project
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The Quagga was a subspecies of plains zebra endemic to South Africa until it was hunted into extinction. I took this image of its rump at the Natural History Museum of Cape Town during a visit. It feels like a family member that you never got to meet.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project
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A murmuration over a floodplain just outside the town of Graaff Reinet. I have been thinking of capturing this image for years, and still am.The eyes see what the eyes see.

© Kent Andreasen - White Peacock, Hout BayPurity
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White Peacock, Hout BayPurity

© Kent Andreasen - My cousin Jack is looking out of the window of a friend's house affectionately named the Barnacle.
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My cousin Jack is looking out of the window of a friend's house affectionately named the Barnacle.

© 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 stress.I had just graduated from school and was on a gap year in China and Thailand. He visited me a week before this happened, and I was shaken by the news when I heard.

© Kent Andreasen - My brother Storme sits for a photograph while on a family trip in Southern Italy
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My brother Storme sits for a photograph while on a family trip in Southern Italy

© Kent Andreasen - Ball Collector.
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Ball Collector.

© Kent Andreasen - Hotel rooms have always been places where I end up taking photographs.Windhoek, Namibia
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Hotel rooms have always been places where I end up taking photographs.Windhoek, Namibia

© Kent Andreasen - Johannesburg skyline, the Place Of My Birth and a city that shaped the way my parents interact with their lives.
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Johannesburg skyline, the Place Of My Birth and a city that shaped the way my parents interact with their lives.

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project
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I have a vivid memory of almost drowning when I was a young child. I remember looking up at my dad from the bottom of the pool as he realized I was there and then jumped in fully clothed to help me. I was never sure if this was just a dream or not?

© 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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Cape Town is renowned for its brutal winter storms and has often been called the 'Cape of Storms' by seafarers over the years. On this particular day, Cape Town witnessed a record high-water mark that far surpassed previous years.

© Kent Andreasen - “Kent Face” in the mud. My parents have always affectionately called me this. Photo by Erica Brown (Godmother)
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“Kent Face” in the mud. My parents have always affectionately called me this. Photo by Erica Brown (Godmother)

© Kent Andreasen - Image from the Memory Bank photography project
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Early one morning, a friend called me to say that a whale shark had washed up on Cape Town's well-known Camps Bay beach. I couldn't believe it at first, but I quickly jumped into my car and headed over to investigate.

Memory Bank by Kent Andreasen

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