about the library

I had originally conceived of this project as a way to physically and visibly represent the heavy burden of carrying around all my memories. I had, admittedly, been caught up in a long series of traumatic events, and was feeling very alone. It seemed as though my life would always be backgrounded by the task of shouldering this complicated personal narrative. But the more I began to look into my relationship with memory, the more my curiosity grew about the memories of others as well.

I became interested in the fallibility of memory. How might we know what is accurate and what is not? How much does it matter? How much do our memories define us? Are they altered in some way if we share them, or are they given a chance to transform into something new and live on in someone else?

Choreography, paired with sound design by Clare Marie Nemanich, was simultaneously developed with the elaborate costume of collected “Memory Objects.”

The costume was really the first thing I envisioned when I began this whole journey. I was determined to create a gown out of objects that reminded me (and later others) of past events. I put out a call for donations; anything that reminded someone of a memory could be donated. I sorted through it, deconstructed it, and transformed it into an enormous archive.

The final result is a Library of memories. Anyone who sees the gown or the piece will witness and “read” a vast array of memories, and in turn be reminded of moments from their own life.