Personal Statement
That my memory cannot absorb what I have read or what I learn and that there is a large chunk of memories from my past which I cannot recall causes a frustration within me, yet has become the stimulus for my practice as an artist. A dependence on the act of image repetition and on the visual memory has been the result of this. The sensations that are revived when I recall an image conjure up a sense of nostalgia within me for those memories of friends, family and experiences that have been lost: that relationships and memories are so important to me, it is the experience of making an artwork that enables me to recall a memory or experience (be it of a relationship or an event) by representing these memories through images. The notion that a memory can be forgotten is somehow consolidated by the sense that nostalgia cannot be (forgotten) and that by representing the snippets of memory that do resurface, they are in some way being perpetuated. The repetition of images allows me to immerse myself in the sensations that I recall, time and time again, while reinforcing the significance of my surroundings.
It is the impossibility of being able to visually represent a memory, experience or relationship that is of interest and this impossibility is reinforced within the capabilities of my own mind because of its inability to recall a complete memory. Once captured on a surface, be it a painting, drawing or etching, this memory exists physically and therefore cannot be forgotten.
Ambiguous forms, layers of paint (that reveal as well as conceal) and the rendering of line all echo the unsure or incomplete memory. The dimensions of the individual canvasses are comparative to my bodily dimensions, allowing me to metaphorically encapsulate memories and experiences within a frame, just as my mind encapsulates memories and my body holds within it the history not just of these memories and experiences but of former generations.
Nicola Magdalinis
Galleryviewing 2003
Reclining Nude
Acrylic on canvas,
580mm x 762mm
year: 2003
