Kayla Lockwood

Glitched Memories // Fragmented Mementos

ARTIST STATEMENT: I question the master narratives of art by celebrating cultural differences in the broad spectrum of human creativity and expression. I represent myself and my artwork in two personas that exemplify my creative practice. One is Miss Identify which is a witty exploitation of the ambiguities of “misidentify,” encompassing my experiences of others misidentifying and erasing my multi-racial and bisexual identities. I utilize this practice as a love language to examine my internal relationships with my emotions and self-identity as well as my external relationships with friends and family through a nostalgic lens. These are works of emotional and physical relationships with myself and others, exploring topics of coping with grief and loss; rediscovering family histories; and reclaiming self-identity. My other persona is Social Sin, which is based on my interest in examining the societal sins of discrimination and injustice through an institutional lens. I utilize this practice to build a stronger community through research, workshops, and community conversations. These works bring awareness of implicit biases, emphasize empathy and highlight the importance of maintaining self-identity through collaboration and non-confrontational dialogue. These two personas overlap at a unique intersection of exploring the concept of death as a loss of identity and the practice of grief through personal anecdotes, rediscovery, and reclamation. This exploration establishes a relationship between personal and cultural histories as one’s self-identity is shaped by personal experiences and social expectations.

THESIS STATEMENT: Glitched Memories // Fragmented Mementos is a time-based video and photo album that explores the concept of death as a loss of identity and the practice of grief through personal anecdotes, rediscovery, and reclamation. This experience provides a narrative around the preservation of identity and family histories through a collection of family photographs that were discovered in personal photo albums and public archives. The images were digitally manipulated by voice recordings of handwritten letters I wrote to those that were photographed as a veil of hiddenness. The letters to my great-grandfather and grandfather were written after their passing; however, I wrote a call to action letter to my father, who is still with us today, to help him process the recent loss of his parents. Death is a taboo subject within my family, especially as I define death being the loss of one’s identity rather than its conventional definition. I believe this culture of avoidance has been established for generations. This was especially emphasized to me when I discovered that my grandfather stored my grandmother’s cremations under the family dinner table. I strive to challenge this cultural aspect within my family by acknowledging the importance of preserving the stories and identities of loved ones for future generations. The purpose of this piece is to allow me and my father to reconnect and discuss our relationship with death through the preservation of one’s memories and identities, and to allow viewers to reflect on the processes of grief and loss by questioning how family impacts their identity and how they will preserve their family’s history and identity. However, upon completion of this project, I’ve come to realize that my father and I do preserve the memories and identities of our ancestors through the social and emotional actions we’ve learned from our personal relationships and interactions with them. Although my father struggles to discuss grief and loss due to learning it from previous generations, my father does preserve the memories and identities of his grandfather and father through his actions as a father to his daughters. I also think his actions show how family and ancestry greatly impact both his and my identities.

www.social-sin.com/

@social.sin

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