Memory Imaginaries is an installation that explores memory both in its physical form and in its collective dimension through a series of constructed images from Portsmouth’s past. Created from photographs sourced from the Portsmouth Archives, the artist reimagines Portsmouth’s past as deposits of collective experience reflected in the layers of images with which every individual piece is constructed. Each photograph used is a visual trace carrying a subjective choice that represents a moment of awe and wonder, the moment of that experience as well as its significance as an item for future remanence. Memory Imaginaries, are constructed narratives that act as an artificial mnemonic recollection attempting to evoke a sense of nostalgia and a vehicle to further remembering and storytelling. All re-collected and constructed memories are housed in old wardrobes, the symbols of those generations past and the storehouses of their valuable personal possessions.

Artist Bio:

Evagelia Hagikalfa is a collage and assemblage installation artist from Athens, Greece. She uses recycled materials to create intricate pieces with evocative visual messages. Her work focuses on the human condition through storytelling, memory and the use of pre-owned material such as photography and vintage objects. Reusing objects, gives them a new life and purpose while they preserve parts of their own history. Evagelia often draws inspiration from her cultural background and more specifically mythology, philosophy and poetry. She creates 3-dimensional worlds with photographic slides, viewed only though magnifying and camera lenses, drawing attention to the detail and discovery as a symbolic process to introspection.

Image credit: Photographic material sources from the Portsmouth Archives.