I haven't given up on making a video or slide show of the making of one - or more (let's think big...) - of the memory balls. Tony set up his fab camera with fab macro lens and I spent a happy afternoon winding and clicking, winding and clicking. The result is the size of a squash ball - maybe 5cm diameter - and I'm not as pleased with this one as I am with the ones that have the sharp ends of tacks coming out. (Nor am I entirely clear, still, what they're "about"...)
In case you're wondering what's inside, here are all the raw materials (I didn't use the dark blue, in the end; might use it in another ball...) -
And this is what happened during the making -
What kept running through my mind while making this is the importance of memory for identity -- if you can't remember what's happened in your life, who are you? Memory is thus central to personality ... perhaps a better word is personhood? Also, what you want to remember might be a different thing from the memories that are buried. Not sure how this manifests in these memory-ball objects ... this one was an attempt to use something abstract - the knots of thread - to think about something general. (I wish I'd left the knotted threads out of the photos. Will try again...)
Only the surface of these balls is accessible to the viewer, just as - until the person speaks, until you communicate - only the "surface" of the person is visible. A matter of "don't judge a book by its cover", perhaps.
2 comments:
Your reflection about memory linked with your work is very interesting. Perhaps, when we make any work we are always opening the rivers of our memory. Thanks, Margaret
Memory is such a captivating, elusive, compelling subject. I love how you relate these balls - something tangible - to memory - something fleeting, in the grand scheme of things.
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