Distilled Memory (I)

The work relates a 'typical' childhood story of a schoolfriend having been through a rebellious phase and appears to be on the brink of a happy future. It has been suggested that the story is critical of Kate for smoking despite her asthma. However, it relates a concern regarding her 'need' to smoke. That concern is conveyed through the uneerie sense of foreboding that the viewer experiences as they regard the work. This, overtly, through the stress on the word invaded, where the white text on blue background is inverted and where remnants of an alternative wording fade into the background. However the sinister undertones are also conveyed by the child-like script and the context of Ann's other textual works. The final 'punch' is not included in the work itself but the tragic conclusion is spet out on the rear of the work: 'I last saw Kate following the suicide of her husband and then her son. She died a year later'. Whilst the work relates to a true story the actual text is fictional.