Reflection on my works 2016-2024
The core of my artistic practice lies in exploring memory, history, and their intersection with art. I am fascinated by collective memory—how recent events are perceived, shared, and reshaped through media and interpersonal exchanges. Memory, inherently subjective and influenced by personal bias, often diverges among individuals, creating polarisation and conflicting narratives. My work examines the gap between how we distort past events in hindsight and how we experienced them at the time.
Across projects such as “Forgotten Doctrine”, “When The Power Has Gone”, “We Are All In It Together”, and “On Becoming An Immigrant”, a recurring theme emerges: the fading significance of pivotal events in collective memory, despite their profound societal impact.
Marking the 35th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall, I reflect on the fading memory of life in the GDR before 1989. Despite abundant evidence, perceptions blur, and the past is often romanticised. Projects like “When The Power Has Gone” and my current “Forgotten Doctrine” preserve and interrogate the complex realities of life under dictatorship. My photographic and sculptural work revisits my 26 years of living and teaching in the GDR, working with historical materials sourced from personal and public archives to explore the emotional impact of restrictions and control.
The COVID-19 crisis inspired “We Are All In It Together”, a project reflecting on how the pandemic’s once all-encompassing presence has faded into fragmented and conflicting recollections, especially for those unaffected by personal tragedies or Long COVID. My work preserves these experiences and challenges biases, resisting the tendency to exaggerate predictability in hindsight, which distorts memories and reasoning.
Similarly, the 2016 Brexit vote, central to “On Becoming An Immigrant”, shattered my sense of belonging as an EU citizen in the UK. It exposed a stark decline in societal cohesion, evident in food shortages, strained healthcare, environmental setbacks, and underfunded services. Rather than critically examining these consequences, the architects of Brexit are celebrated, reflecting a collective reluctance to confront its impact.
These visual projects all serve as a means of combating the erosion of memories from recent history, which directly impact my own life story.
Across projects such as “Forgotten Doctrine”, “When The Power Has Gone”, “We Are All In It Together”, and “On Becoming An Immigrant”, a recurring theme emerges: the fading significance of pivotal events in collective memory, despite their profound societal impact.
Marking the 35th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall, I reflect on the fading memory of life in the GDR before 1989. Despite abundant evidence, perceptions blur, and the past is often romanticised. Projects like “When The Power Has Gone” and my current “Forgotten Doctrine” preserve and interrogate the complex realities of life under dictatorship. My photographic and sculptural work revisits my 26 years of living and teaching in the GDR, working with historical materials sourced from personal and public archives to explore the emotional impact of restrictions and control.
The COVID-19 crisis inspired “We Are All In It Together”, a project reflecting on how the pandemic’s once all-encompassing presence has faded into fragmented and conflicting recollections, especially for those unaffected by personal tragedies or Long COVID. My work preserves these experiences and challenges biases, resisting the tendency to exaggerate predictability in hindsight, which distorts memories and reasoning.
Similarly, the 2016 Brexit vote, central to “On Becoming An Immigrant”, shattered my sense of belonging as an EU citizen in the UK. It exposed a stark decline in societal cohesion, evident in food shortages, strained healthcare, environmental setbacks, and underfunded services. Rather than critically examining these consequences, the architects of Brexit are celebrated, reflecting a collective reluctance to confront its impact.
These visual projects all serve as a means of combating the erosion of memories from recent history, which directly impact my own life story.