Traces of human histories

WCU Author/Contributor (non-WCU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Kate Chassner (Creator)
Institution
Western Carolina University (WCU )
Web Site: http://library.wcu.edu/
Advisor
Tom Ashcraft

Abstract: Breathing in Water is a collection of work that focuses on memories and the role water has played in shaping those and finding a sense of place. This work represents place, as a memory and connection or a link to a specific time, in my personal history as well as a collective memory shared with the viewers. The images serve as windows or portals into that memory, some parts are blurry and require more focus but some are clear. Memories form us. They feel both comforting and constricting, as they are experiences that I cannot fully grasp onto anymore but they create my history. In my research and process, I seek to find a language that connects my memories and that familiar feeling with others through their own stories. In my investigations, I will explore the ideas of collecting as practical memory, the ideas surrounding ghosts as described in Avery Gordon’s book Ghostly Matters and how it pertains to collective memory, as well as writings by artists such as Sarah Sze as they discuss ideas on how we assign value and mark time with objects and images. Lucy Lippard, in The Lure of the Local, speaks to the feeling of place as “a layered location replete with human histories and memories, place has width as well as depth.”

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2022
Keywords
Collage, Connections, Landscape, Memory, Mixed Media, Uncanny
Subjects
Collages
Landscapes
Mixed media
Art objects
Memory

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