Remembrance of Things Past

Harjeet Kaur exhibits 7 photographs of her series
'Remembrance of Things Past'

September 2010
Ruskin's space
London NW1 1RT

I developed my work into a photographic narrative, which portrays images assembled around themes of memories, myths and narratives that make up our collective past - a narrative sequence which reinforces the idea of taking the audience on a journey. The images represent a generic and universal child which we can recognise in ourselves.

The aim of the work is to evoke common memories and to share our sense of home. I wish to explore similarities and shared experiences, which are timeless and are common amongst us. The viewer is able to approach the work on many levels allowing them to experience the world created around them. The sharing of experiences take place by the audience being posed certain questions about preferences and memories evoked through experiences of home.




www.harjeetkaur.originationinsite.com

I am on my way home. As I walk up the steep hill with my weekend bags in tow, I hear children in the near distance. The clashing of pots and pans echoes down the rows of terraced kitchens, jutting out into the garden with their modern extensions. I step over broken toys on the pavement and make my way steadily onward. The smell of cooking mixed with fresh laundry powder brings back memories of my own childhood. Not much has changed since my last visit a short while ago, but the sounds and smells of home take me right back. These are the memories which I recreate in my work.

For those, like me, who choose to live elsewhere and return home sporadically, it can be a Proustian moment, recreating the past through memory, as when the taste of a madeleine cake dipped in tea suddenly transports him to Sunday mornings at Combray with his Aunt Léonie.

One of the ways in which we are identified is through the idea of ‘home’, which is used to perpetuate the myth of ‘home sweet home’. I examine the issues of identity and self through recovering past histories from our idea of home and its links to identity almost reinventing cultural identity. The work is fragmented and distorted as it represents memories of home past, present and future.

Creative City works with artists who touch on the notion of 'home' as both a place, a shelter, but also a sense of belonging.

September 2010
Ruskin's space
Working Men's College
44 Crowndale Road
London NW1 1RT

The Working Men’s College has a remarkable history as a centre for innovation and excellence in the VisualArts. In the mid 19th century it was at the radical centre of developments in both Fine and Applied Arts. John Ruskin, its first art tutor, provided the catalyst for the revolutionary work of both the Pre Raphaelites and the Arts and Crafts movement, whose major figures (Rossetti, Burne Jones, Holman Hunt) either taught here or were regular visitors, as were Sickert, Spencer Gore and Lucien Pissarro of the avant-garde Camden Town Group toward the turn of the 20th century. Recent students have included Sarah Lucas and Gary Hume.

www.wmcollege.ac.uk