Longings & Belongings

Animation, 2022, 2 mins 50 secs Using spoken word and animation, ‘Longings & Belongings’ is a meditation on objects and memories, exploring how we cling to things that connect us to someone we’ve lost. In my art practice, I examine how things infused with memories are important as mementoes, and as memento mori (or reminders of mortality). In 2020 my grandmother died, and I helped my dad and uncles to pack up her belongings. It struck me then how none of us knew all the stories attached to the things she had kept over the years. Later, I realised that I had created new attachments and memories connected to the objects of hers that I brought home. In my studio, I often drew a Cornishware jug that I had kept, and the drawings became the starting point for this short artist's film.