The link between objects and memories

I wanted to play around with the idea of a quilt because the warm fuzzy feeling always reminds me of when I was a kid.

I feel like being wrapped up in a quilt with a warm drink kind of replicates the heartwarming feeling nostalgia brings along with it. We moved house recently and weren't able to bring everything with us, but two rillis (quilt) in particular slithered their way into our boxes.

I decided to do a few observational marker
sketches, to navigate around the color
schemes and pattern repetition and to
see what features I wanted to carry into my final. I felt the second one was a bit too crowded for my liking, so I preferred the way all the patches were connected in the first one, and the common denominator was the "X" on each patch. I explored the idea of connection and being linked by making two zines, using the same patterns and colours as the quilt. I did however realise that the colours were almost too bright and happy, especially considering the bittersweet feeling that sometimes comes with nostalgia and reminiscing. I felt that my previous prints had a more rustic nostalgic feel to them so I realised while I wanted to carry the idea of connection into my final, I wasn't necessarily a fan of making it coloured.

My main artist reference for this outcome was El Anatsui, I was inspired by the size of his work despite the fact that he does not necessarily plan it out and uses mainly found materials. I wanted to use a process similar to him so I reused cardboard we had lying around the house, and used copper wire to attach all my prints together. At first I was going to embroider onto cloth and attempt to make a quilt from scratch but the tutors suggested to go with something less concrete, because memories themselves are very fleeting. I felt that by using sharp wires something like cardboard rather than something softer like cloth I would be communicating the bittersweet feeling better, rather than making it purely wholesome without any negative aspects.

EL ANATSUI

zines I made to explore color and pattern

I asked friends and family to send in pictures of objects that they have memories/associations with and received about 100 pictures!It was really interesting t see how much history even the most minuscule objects can hold, and how they can help you reminisce about memories and abstract feelings

I decided to scrap the colours and stick to the prints I had made initially, in the beginning of the project, as I felt the monochrome aspect of it helped me focus more on communicating my message rather than making it too busy and distracting

This is the final outcome, a "quilt" made of 4x4 cardboard pieces and wire. I made the prints on tracing paper because I felt the tint would make them Look foggy/ hazy like memories. I tried to photograph them a bunch of ways, Here I hung them up on the staircase, where my mum sometimes leaves clothes and quilts to dry

Here I made it function as an actual quilt by making my sister wrap it around her and also sleep with it on.