The Texture of Memory

Human being's well-being and success depend on the knowledge that aids our lo

ng-term memory, but memory is multifaceted, it is emotional, unreliable, and multisensory. An artist that uses emotion to evoke memory is Tracey Emin. She is known for her confessional art such as the piece Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995. This piece is an installation of a tent that has names of all of the people she went to bed with over the past three decades sewn into the tent. To different viewers the tent might appear as a womb, home, shelter, or even migration which can make the viewer feel an emotional connection to the piece.

Memory is not a straightforward process that results in a trustworthy,

unchanging records of the past. Many artists who work with memory as a theme are interested in the unreliability and instability of memory. One artist who works with this theme is William Kentridge. He created animated films using his own charcoal drawings which he constantly erases and redraws. His subject matter is that of the apartheid in South Africa and its aftermath. In the movies, his subject matters are in a state of flux, appearing and disappearing, while traces of past drawing remain. His animations explore the forces of forgetting and the resistance of remembrance.

Ann Hamilton creates site specific instillations that respond to the social history of

the site and incorporate everyday materials such as bread or candle wax. The sounds, smells, colors, and textures of her materials contribute equally to the meaning of her artwork as well as create an environment that makes the viewer’s use multiple senses. When the viewer steps into her transformed space, they can smell, see, and hear different things that take them back in time or make them think of their own past experiences.