The memory that I chose to document through my piece was one of getting lost from my mom at a waterpark when I was young. I remembered about my memory some very sensory details, such as the bright color of my surroundings (the turf, the water), the heavy feel of the current in the water, the plastic feel of the turf next to the water. I also remembered my feeling of panic and anxiety in being lost and exhausted from swimming and retracing my steps.
To document these memories of both feel and feeling, I decided to make a piece modeling the waterpark and my journey through it. I painted the bottom and top of the water container black, to give a sense of entrapment inside the chaotic structure – something you often feel when lost. I included the wire inside the container to create the feeling of being surrounded by large, immovable structures. The turf is such an emphasized element because I remember it so clearly from the park, both it’s plastic-y, wet feel, and also it’s bright color. For the water, I wanted to create a sort of heavy texture in it – I added glycerine, oil, and some dye to texture it and make it feel difficult to glide through. The red and black thread are meant to pinpoint the feeling of retracing steps in heavy anxiety, trying to find your way through a system so difficult to navigate. The thread represents me within the structure, and my experience within it. I added video projection in order to give the water some sense of movement and sound.
Here is the final piece:
