Ali Scott
YESTERDAY DRAWN DAILY
My project was born out of an interest in memory triggered by my mum's dementia diagnosis and how her short term memory was deteriorating. In a way it was a short term memory test - 'yesterday drawn daily' - I would draw what I could remember from my day before, something my mum can't do now without prompts. I didn't want it to just be a 'diary' though- I wanted to be less specific than that, remembering feelings, images, small moments- the sort of memories that can get lost in the long term.
I had maybe hoped to experiment a bit more with different techniques, but it got quite fraught trying to keep up with the project timewise (next time I'll do something simpler!). But I was pleased when I realised that simply the choosing and presenting of my memories in
image form, was an illustration in itself of memory- how we all adapt our memories when we revisit them; we select (which involves forgetting, an essential part of the selection process), we blur, we emphasis and embellish, we tweak, we imagine images for happenings we didn't personally experience...
I have to say that I really enjoyed the process and having a project that was part of a bigger project, sharing our experiences as we shared our artwork.
It has certainly meant that the summer of 2021 is now ingrained in my long term memory!
