Knowest Thou the Land

Music triggers memory, almost instantly, like magic. When I found the pianola roll Knowest Thou the Land it prompted thoughts of music, memory and landscape - the landscapes that I grew up with, those with family and personal connections, and the landscapes that are deep within us all. The sketches, marks, and texts from my family tree which I have overlaid on Knowest Thou the Land, are a manifestation of those triggered responses. The title of the work, and of the music on the pianola roll, is the opening line of Goethe’s romantic poem Mignon’s Song. The drawings largely reflect the nostalgic mood of the piece but there are fleeting references to modern phenomena which increasingly impinge on the romance of our remembered landscapes. The total length of the drawing is 250cm but it need not be fully unrolled for display. The photos showed it unrolled to 80cm in length.