My current work, Don’t Forget, is different from anything I’ve ever done. I recently lost my father, and as a result, my work has evolved. The emotions I am feeling have taken over this project. I have been exploring the past and comparing how things used to be with the way I feel now. Old family snapshots show my father’s presence in my life and the lives of my family. New ones speak of his absence. Albums filled with images of my father draw the focus to him—how he was. Each album bears its own significance. One is filled with family photos in which I direct the viewer’s attention by blurring everyone but my father. Next is an album full of photos of my father and me. This one is significant mostly to me but still allows the viewer to see into our relationship. The last album is fully focused on my Daddy throughout his life. I believe this album gives the best glimpse of who he was.

All of these images of my father have been gathered in one place. It speaks of obsession. Thoughts of his absence and my struggle to remember him have been in the forefront of my mind for so long.  This project is a study of that obsession and a documentation of my method of cataloguing my memories.

I decided to make this installation interactive in order to obtain a connection with each viewer who encounters it. Photographs hang on the walls. Old ones juxtaposed with snapshots taken since my Dad has been gone represent the difference in our lives. Albums are displayed for the viewer to look through. My father’s old chair is there to sit in. It serves as a personal symbol of him. I want viewers to be engulfed in this installation, as I have been. The death of a loved one is overwhelming, and that is the feeling I hope to evoke through this work.