[ A small collection of the scanned film images within the database powering the installation ]

I spent the start of my final year gathering these photographs from various family members and storage, the images show the life my Dad lived before I was born and life after him and Mum had me, they showed some really happy warm family events and just day to day laughs. Images and stories from friends and family are the only form of connection I have with Dad, gathering and curating this library brought on a range of emotions for me and went on to significantly inform my direction for the work. My Dad passed away in 2005 and my recollection of him over time has faded, I have few clear memories of us together. I do however remember his big work transit van for all his joinery tools, he was a joiner by trade working for the council across North Lanarkshire – this is also where he met my mum. I used to sit in his van cab with him when he would come back from work and the van is where I have one of the only formative memories of him. I wanted to use my grief and subsequent memory fog as my driver for the work and material experimentation. For me, the materials are a tangible way to embody the disconnect between me and the memory of him. I have particular objects I associate with him and it’s as if I can only see and remember him through these objects.

I wanted to include the photographs but keep some distance and anonymity between the viewer and the image to physically recreate my minds disconnect. For my Gallery installation I have used light as my interactive component, light and colour are used to display the pixelated concentrated colours of the image database, you’ll never clearly see the image but instead I’m more trying to create a visual representation of feelings of separation between me and the memory as a result of grief. Custom LED matrix panels diffuse through translucent cast materials – I have built wax and soap light sculptures, these sculptures are recreations of my Dad’s Ford transit van. The cast objects diffuse a range of colours creating this subtle glow, the colours are generated from this image and film library then using custom code in Processing and Arduino converting colour values to csv files that communicate with neopixel strips. The colours are gathered from the curated family photograph and home video database from 1990-2010. The memory of him lives in the objects.

For my Basement installation I have made a larger deconstructed Ford transit van from various second hand van parts, custom made wrapped vinyl frames and plaster casts of various van parts like the door and tyre. This installation uses video and projection mapping technology to show various moving image pieces I have worked on throughout the year. Dad had a work book that had all of his jobs from 2004 (the last year he lived) which I found at the start of the year and I started looking over all the routes he used to take. I have spent a few months now retracing his steps across North Lanarkshire and photographing places he had been and worked on in the van, this image and video database is what I have used to project onto the van, like a journey with him. I have also mapped various other media such as home video and stop motion of various pixelated images within the image database.