Mundane Memories is a series of illustrations depicting brief moments from my final semester in college. It is drawn from personal experiences as well as observations of the people around me.
There’s a chaos to life in early adulthood – one that feels natural while you’re steeped in it. One of the most tangible examples is the almost constant mess we existed in. It would fade into the background of our lives. Nobody questioned the potatoes in a plastic bag we’d hang on a hook next to drying towels in the bedroom – it was only natural, when groceries kept in the kitchen kept being attacked by rats. In my observations, a key theme that emerged was dysfunctionality: all the various aspects of life that kept going wrong. Nights of sleep deprivation that we’d lose track of as the semester progressed – made up for by afternoon naps taken under college desks. In our own ways, we dealt with our dysfunctionalities – we made things work.
The illustrations were made on discarded sheets of paper. I collected the brown paper bags my friends would order takeout in; some of them scavenged from dustbins. Personally, I’m almost a little afraid to draw. I find it freeing to draw on “trash” paper meant to be thrown out anyway. These papers were often torn, folded, crumpled. The imperfections of the surface became a part of the work itself – the rough edges acting as a metaphor for the imperfections of my subject matter.
The pieces were based on candid photographs I’d taken in the moment, the art intentionally left unfinished: a literal ‘work-in-progress’. These moments were fleeting. They did not feel profound or picturesque in any way while I was experiencing them. However, once passed, they are raised to poignancy in memory.