Memory Walk
Memory Walk, 2018 / Varied edition of 8 / Archival inkjet printing & tempera painting on Dobbin Mill papers. Mapping lines were painted in collaboration with robots (Artbots) built by Kaethe Wenzel, Berlin / Cassette tapes
Size: 9.75” x 14” x 1”
The memory palace is an ancient mnemonic device, which works with architectural space in one’s mind. Over the years, I have created my own, placing specific objects there to remember them. This book presents three different memory palaces designed as walks: the streets of Montevideo, Uruguay, my home & studio in Brooklyn, NY, and galleries of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. As such, spatial and temporal memory all converge in this French Door structure, consisting of a stab binding of layered translucency, along with a pamphlet with throw-out pages.
Embedded tape recordings, each in a different copy of the edition:
- Mozart, Queen of the Night aria
- Weather Report, Black Market
- Penguin Café Orchestra
- Busi Mhlonga
- Billy Cobham
- Archie Shepp
- Lucio Dalla & Lucio Battisti
- The Roches, Maggie Adams, Joan Armatrading
- Bob Marley (artist proof)
Additional thoughts:
Memory Walk in Montevideo presents walls that I had photographed in the streets of that city, then painted & re-photographed. Within its translucent pages are sheets with images of my objects. Memory Walk in the Rijksmuseum contains a text I wrote along with photos of those same objects juxtaposed with masterpieces in the museum’s collection. The memory walk in Brooklyn is presented by maps in the back of the book.
I repurposed a set of my handmade papers that had been painted using 2 robots (Artbots built by Käthe Wenzel, Berlin) for another project that was never completed. I went back into these paintings, adding my own lines of movement that indicate the travel from one object to another.
The images, the objects, and locations all function as visual poetry … and the movement through spaces & pages of the book creates a dialogue and poetic logic for the reader to enjoy.
Text of Memory Walk:
I walk alone
In search of my memories.
Certainly they have been placed along this book-lined street.
Or in this palace
of forgotten slumber.
If only I could remember
where?
As I follow the clew.