Ash Memories delves into the concepts of trace and memory through the medium of fire. Employing performative and ritual processes, I engaged with the different stages of a fire to capture its traces. During the combustion phase, I gently touched the flames with paper to record their marks. Walking a fine line between igniting and preserving it intact, the paper serves as a vessel, a "container," to store the flames' imprints and the transiency of that moment.
As the flames diminished, the resulting marks became smokier and subtler, with yellowish hues reflecting the transitional quality of the fire’s decline.
Once the fire had naturally extinguished, I worked with the residual ashes and char using a technique familiar to my practice, which consists of rubbing paper onto the ground. The charred surface allowed me to capture the final stage through bold charcoal marks and blurred gray shades. These ash memories, translated onto paper, transform ephemerality (of the fire, thus of a specific moment in time) into a tangible, permanent form.
Relating temporality to the creative act, Ash Memories embraces fire as an elemental material to evoke our ancient interaction with nature, reflecting on pivotal moments in human history such as the discovery of fire and the origin of art.
The work was developed in residence at NAHR, Val Taleggio, Italy, (July 2024).
