Investigation 3: The Image of a Memory | 2024-2025
My senior year of high school, I am taking the 2-D course of Advanced Placement Art. This course requires students to undergo a Sustained Investigation for their portfolio. College Board defines this section as “a body of related works that demonstrate an inquiry-based sustained investigation of materials, processes, and ideas through practice, experimentation, and revision.” I am required to submit 15 images, 5 being finished works and the rest being revision and process documentation, by the end of the 2024-2025 school year.
My previous investigations regarding childhood and nostalgia have inspired me to take this subject to the largest investigation I have done yet and dive into an even more specific theme: The Image of a Memory. The current chapter of my life is transitional, in many ways forcing me to leave childhood behind. I want to spend time with my past and my childhood self before I journey further, in an attempt to honor all that brought me here and remind myself who I am at my core. The theme I chose conveys this desire, meant to represent how people view their vague childhood memories - how they don’t remember important events or details, how they remember things that never were, how different a child’s perspective is from that of an adult, how a memory looks as you remember it, blurry and incomplete. I represent these concepts through investigating how I, at 17, view memories from my early childhood, and transferring those ideas from thought to canvas.
When I Was Very Young
This final work, inspired by the title of A.A. Milne’s poetry book “When We Were Very Young,” is meant to represent a child’s view of their life and how they make experiences vibrant with imagination. Using my own childhood memories as a reference, my goal is to replicate the illustration styles of children’s books like Winnie the Pooh or Peter Rabbit to convey the innocent fantasy that I navigated my early childhood with.
References and sketches to be added below.
Recalling
This final work is meant to represent how it looks to only recall a memory. Details may be lost to time, you can only recall a vague image that seems to be slipping away, and you may not be sure of its accuracy. Using my own childhood memories as a reference, my goal is to depict a scene that blurs into itself, softening detail and leaving behind only a concept of the original image.
References and sketches to be added below.
Imagination
This final work is meant to represent how a child remembers events and details that stray far from reality, inspired by my own experiences recalling a memory to my parents and them assuring me that it was very different, or never happened at all. Using my own childhood memories as a reference, my goal is to connect two pieces together to make one - one piece depicts what a scene looks/looked like in reality, and the other depicts how I remember it.
References and sketches to be added below.
Fading
This final work is meant to visually represent a memory as it fades. Details and events may overlap, the line blurs between true memory and imagination, and the memory strays further and further from sensible reality. Using my own childhood memories as a reference, my goal is to depict a scene where subjects are transparent, details of the setting are fading, and the outer corners blur into light.
References and sketches to be added below.
How it Felt
This final work is meant to represent how a memory feels. When you can’t remember a conversation word for word, someone’s voice, the every day routine of your 5-year-old self, you can always remember how it felt. Despite the fact that intricate details of a period in your life may get lost to time, you always carry the emotions with you forever. Using my own childhood memories and feelings towards them as a reference, my goal is to depict a scene full of light, with a softness that resembles the way sunlight can blur your vision. This work attempts to represent the joy I carried during my childhood, what it felt like to share it with those close to me, and what it feels like to recall it now.
References and sketches to be added below.