MEMORY OF A GARDEN

Memory of a Garden is a series of paintings in oil on black cotton mix fabric that was completed in February 2020. The concept of the work became especially poignant during the initial shockwave of Covid-19 that rocked the world.

The entire series was created through a barrier, without the brush ever directly touching the surface of the paintings. Two pieces of fabric were stretched on top of one another before the painting process commenced;  a large piece of black cotton mix on the bottom, with a geometric pattern fabric on top. As I applied the paint to the geometric fabric (creating a big landscape titled “Fractured Forest” in the process), it bled through to the black fabric underneath it. A fantastical abstract forest landscape appeared on the bottom fabric, made visible through blurry, organic patches of colour.

The geometric pattern on the top acted as a guide for colour and brushwork: the pattern was sometimes utilised as a grid in the markmaking process, and sometimes dismissed or deconstructed.

A photograph of a Spanish Andalusian landscape from a residency at Joya:AIR in 2016, acted as reference for the production of this work — a photograph of a happy memory of big spaces and being surrounded by nature. Memory of a Garden looks back at glances of optimism and hope in a time of hardship; a time of being locked down in restricted domestic spaces, where being outside on a walk or unhindered in nature seemed like a faraway dream.