Encode, Store, Retrieve, 2021
Durational Sculpture
Chlorophyll Printed Leaf, Water, Steel
54”

A photograph has the inherent ability to freeze and preserve a fleeting moment, acting as a vessel for memory.

A memory consists of three acts: recording (experiencing), neural alteration (storing), and recollection (remembering).

Embedded within this leaf is an organically printed memory that represents and resembles the process of human memories. Sandwiched between a wood panel and glass beneath the sun, the leaf is subjected to an extraordinary amount of energy, and an image is imprinted within it. This change occurs on a cellular level; similar to how our memories are experienced then stored.

The leaf is unattainable until it is slowly exposed through the melting ice, and reanimated by the water. Only then is it finally tangible. Even water, a substance that sustains life, affects the integrity of the leaf and the contrast in the print. Memory has a similar delicacy to it: our fluid memories are not always as accurate as we trust them to be.

They may never emerge the same as before.