In The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard writes that memories are motionless, and the more securely they are fixed in space, the sounder they are. The historic walls of NSCAD University’s Duke Street campus—where the Anna Leonowens Gallery is located—suggest layers of memories fixed within them, or what Rachel Whiteread calls “the residue of years and years of use.” Through latex casting methods I capture detailed impressions of the architecture and the human traces within it.

By stretching cheesecloth on a surface and painting layers of latex across it, I build up a relief negative that is peeled away once hardened. Once it’s off the wall, I am left with a yellowing skin-like image of the surface—the wall is made soft. Latex captures delicate marks and textures in the walls, holding onto elements of dust, bricks, dirt, paint, and rust, whether they are from construction, maintenance, or graffiti. The resulting images are like ghostly mirrors of their matrix, and their eventual decay will embody future developments in the building. Latex has an expected life span of twenty years. With the possibility of the NSCAD building being renovated or torn down, the change in campuses will be mirrored with the drastic decay in its impressions. My intention is to memorialize the space and the narratives that have played out within it, viewing the building as a sort of visual diary of everyone who has passed through it.

NSCAD Student Art Award Finalist Information