Beautiful Ruin
A Project on Memory Loss
The paintings in this collection tackle the beauty of decay in response to the cognitive (as well as physical) deterioration that is inevitably connected to one's age. Alzheimer's is a disease that deprives the victim of their essence, leaving behind a seemingly unscathed being, that is nonetheless only a fragment-a ghost of the former self. My work explores the loss of identity and memory, but above all the "beautiful" aspects of this process . This beauty is simultaneously hopeful and unrelenting as a person with Alzheimer's may not recall an event or person but will remember how these made them feel. This bittersweet element is something I wished to reflect in each painting.
Blown Out Of Memories
Memory Collection
2019
Oil on Canvas
90cm x 70cm
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Orvokki
Memory Collection
2019
Oil on Canvas
85cm x 60cm
In Alzheimer’s disease the amygdala, partly in charge of emotional memories is affected later than the hippocampus. Therefore a person with Alzheimer's may not recall an event or person but will remember happenings exuding emotional value and how people made them feel.
This piece was the first one I did for the collection. Based on a photograph of my grandmother, the painting combines personal symbolism with the general imagery that began to reappear in lots of my subsequent work within the memory collection. The deliberate incompleteness is used to convey the loss of the self to the disease, the contrast between the monochromatic greys (to depict time) and the vibrant flowers (the preservation of emotion) running across the eye area (fragmentation of the body and dissociation) is meant to illustrate the conservation of emotion. In addition I painted pansies to commemorate my grandmother as they were her favourite flowers as well as her middle name in Finnish, ‘Orvokki’. The flowers although in reality frail and short lived seems strong and resilient in the painting in comparison to its ambiguous surroundings, and the fading portrait.
Sold to private collector (contact for more info)
Outlined
Memory Collection
2019
Oil on Recycled Canvas
105cm x 75cm
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Key Memories
Memory Collection
2019
Oil on Recycled Panels
50cm x 50cm