Repressed memories are a very common psychological defense mechanism used by the mind to aid in the healing process associated with trauma. The frequent displacement I experienced during my upbringing came hand in hand with trauma. Some homes were better than others and due to this my developing mind placed what almost seems like a black curtain over memories from various homes. It feels like gaping voids in the timeline of my life.
Childhood is when you begin to develop a sense of identity; you link together experiences and memories and put together the puzzle pieces that make up who you are as an adult. But you face a feeling of foggy incompletion in adulthood when you are missing many of the puzzle pieces that are meant to make up who you are.
During the creation of this body of work I visited each home I lived in between the ages of six and eighteen. I installed a clothesline in front of each property and photographed the piece. The clothes line is a representation of my time in that place and the black clothes are the voids in my memory. In front of each photo is a film like panel positioned various distances from the image. The closer the panel is to the image the clearer the memory is to the viewer.
This project is a recollection of the past. It is a visual representation to others of what it is to have repressed memories. It is a personal attempt to exhume parts of myself. I hope that in publicizing this process I can help bring awareness to the fragility of memories and the ongoing process of recovery.

Home #1

Home #2

Home #3

Home #4

Home #5

Home #6

Home #7

Home #8

Home #9

Home #10