Cultural memory is defined by National Geographic as “a form of collective memory shared by a group of people,” often in the context of objects presented in museums. It is the idea that memory is not solely individual, but also part of the collective sphere, allowing us to understand more deeply the past and future. The nature of our participation in global contemporary art fairs is an engagement with this notion of cultural memory as it lives today. Art fairs are a platform for ideas, often represented by objects, for the topics that are relevant to us in the present moment; a contemporary time capsule of what we believe to be important.
This presentation includes three artists exemplifying these themes of collective memory through both concept and materiality: Mishael Coggeshall-Burr, Alison Croney Moses, and Katrina Sánchez.
Mishael Coggeshall-Burr integrates the art of photography and oil painting to create novel and compelling images on canvas. Taking blurred shots with a 35mm camera, the artist searches for peripheral scenes with cinematic color and tone. He translates selected images into abstract-realist paintings with convincing color, formal structure, and subtle references to art history. Through his actions Mishael questions both the truth of photography and the fiction of painting: we enter a liquid, cinematic space, imbued with memory that is at once personal and shared. The paintings depict scenes of the artist’s travels and locations from his youth, often recognized by viewers who have then recited fond memories of their own experiences on New York’s High Line or Paris’s Latin Quarter. The blurriness in his images suggests a dwindling clarity of these memories as they are claimed by time.
Alison Croney Moses creates wooden objects that engage the senses, all while reframing her identity as an artist and a craftsperson. Croney Moses works with the material in a way that reconnects her as the artist to the foundations of nature and form, pushing her own limits both creatively and physically. “The process of making is a collaboration with wood, a material that even after being cut down still mimics life, changing with its environment. I push the wood to its limits, and it pushes back. Finding this critical moment in time and physical balance transforms the material. In this material and process of working I see the connections to my community. I see the trust, the risks, the affirmations. I see my identity—as a Black woman, a Black mother.” The memories held in these wooden forms are contemporary – they reck with the reality of challenges and maternal health issues faced by Black mothers, all the while calling to adapt and reframe this collective memory to better serve those it affects both presently and in the future.
Katrina Sanchez is a Panamanian-American artist based in Charlotte, NC working primarily in soft sculpture. Exploring connection and healing through textile structures, Sánchez creates vibrant and exaggerated Magnified Weavings that fill, what she thinks of as, torn spaces. Knitting and stuffing each ‘knitted noodle’, used as the enlarged warp and weft, she builds tactile sculptures that push color and textured form into space. The artworks are a site for invention and play that read as deep relief objects when presented on the wall. Her work is heavily influenced by her earlier processes in mending with needle and thread as well as the matriarchs and cultural backgrounds of her family, acknowledging the extensive material history in the craft of knitting on both a global and a familial scale. It is also important to note that Sánchez’s artworks are invitations for engagement – viewers are encouraged to touch the works.
Each of these artists engage with cultural memory in ways that acknowledge their own personal histories, families, and communities. This presentation brings together three different perspectives and simultaneous truths that cross cultural boundaries in a cohesive, yet visually distinct capsule of time.