Shifting and Confused Gusts of Memory

This work is an attempt to understand and regain images and feelings lost with the passage of time. It was inspired by the refusal of letting go of the not yet defined and therefore disturbingly active memories.

The title of the series derives from Swann’s Way, the first volume of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time.

This work is an attempt to understand and regain images and feelings lost with the passage of time. It was inspired by the refusal of letting go of the not yet defined and therefore disturbingly active memories.

I begin the process of reconstruction and evocation by intuitive recognition of something intimate or familiar in publicly available images. The most crucial for this process is my childhood and my family home. The moments when I come across a picture and it suddenly brings me back to that time are extremely emotional. It seems important to save what these moments evoke and to redefine it. During the process of recreation, I bear in mind the subjectivity and illusoriness of these memory images and the fact that they are not permanent, but they are actually constantly transforming and derive from strong notions of pop culture. It is the situational context that transforms them as well as fleeting emotions and desires. Memory is no solid ground and memories should be challenged in order to see what is behind them. The initial trace of past experiences is a feeling and the accuracy of this feeling is crucial while encountering these memories.

A part of the whole process is also my close family. I ask them to repeat some gestures, actions and movements. Their involvement is also a step towards a deeper understanding of the core of our mutual relations. The situations I refer to have been taking place for 30 years in the same house.