Artistic Representation

“The contemporary recalls, re-evokes and revitalizes the past”¹
—Giorgio Agamben

            Throughout my research, I have re-examined my grandparents’ lives not only through academic reading and reflection, but also through visual representation. My studio work has been informed and inspired by the photographs, artifacts and theoretical and historical writings explored during the making of this project. In “Artistic Representation”, I engage and interact with the family archive to create works that infuse representation with the artist’s/descendant’s expressive gestures. The work explores how personal objects can be translated through artistic mediums to take on a new meaning².  Can a painting hold both the trace of the granddaughter (whose hand created the painting) and the grandparents (whose photograph was used to create the painting)? Does tracing my nonna’s handwriting bring a greater sense of understanding or mystery to my memory of her? What does it mean to draw objects used by my great-grandfather, a man I never met and know virtually nothing about? When viewing this body of work, the audience is encouraged to contemplate these questions and consider their relation to their own grandparents, whether they knew them or not.

1. Agamben, Giorgio. "What Is an Apparatus?" and Other Essays. Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2009, pp. 39-54[SP1] .

2. Bienart, Katy. “Reading Between the Lines: Artistic Approaches to the Family Archive.” Jewish Culture and History, Vol. 15, nos. 1-2, pp. 6-26