Fanny Jacquier's Meditations on Memory
While at VCCA, visual
artist Fanny Jacquier used several different approaches to explore the
theme of memory.
One large piece was
composed a number of sheets of paper (45 by last count, but this amount may grow as she is still working on it) arranged in a grid-like formation. “I
started working with grids because I wanted to find a new way of seeing
composition,” says Fanny. “I’m very interested in the process; using sheets
of paper means the process is ongoing — the piece is constantly changing; I
rearrange the sheets, remove some, add more. Sometimes it’s smaller, sometimes
bigger.”
The grid arrangement also
keeps the work firmly contemporary by fracturing the composition with strong
horizontal and vertical lines, while subtly tempering the work’s lyrical
delicacy that suggests of a worn Japanese screen.
Fanny uses watercolor,
oil stick and colored pencils to add hue and line, reveling in “the freedom to
find forms; let the lines speak and convey a certain rhythm.” Her overall composition is abstract, but there
are passages that suggest something recognizable — a tree, or bunting hanging
on a line. Fanny incorporates glimpses of actual things to attract our
attention and also to evoke the flickering images that form our memories. Some
of these can remain very detailed, while others wash away and disappear.
While at VCCA, Fanny
made the obligatory trip to the thrift store in Amherst looking for
inspiration: “I really like to work with my surroundings. So I didn’t come to
VCCA with a special project in mind. I wanted to let the place speak to me
before I decided what to do.” At the store, she bought a plastic bag of old snapshots.
At first it looked like a jumble of unrelated photos, but looking through them,
she began to recognize different people at different ages and realized the
collection was a record of someone’s life. She took some of the photographs and
arranged them on the wall. She wanted to see how the images worked without facial
expressions and so she blotted out the faces with ovals of white paint.
Some viewers complained
that she had obscured the most interesting part of the photograph, but to me,
she added mystery and unease to relatively mundane images. Like the grid piece,
this one also centers on memory inviting the viewer to project new stories on
to the blank “canvas” of the faces. Also important is the fact that the piece
seems to embody the very act of remembering. “I’ve had it here on the wall now
for two weeks,” Fanny says. “In the beginning, I had those faces in my mind,
but now I’ve forgotten them. It’s like a polaroid photo in reverse, getting
lighter and lighter as it fades away. ”
There’s an undeniable
voyeuristic element to looking at a stranger’s photographs and Fanny exploits
this further in her fictive postcard project that was inspired by the rich
literary atmosphere of VCCA. “Every night, there’d be readings that would draw
you into a new world,” she says. So she approached VCCA Fellow Nat Schmookler to
collaborate by producing the text.
Connected to the theme
of loss, the postcards look timeworn, with faded images and a neat, old-fashioned
script penned by Nat who also used language and subject matter to reflect the
local area and time frame. “I wanted to make them and then make them look old
[using coffee and wine to distress the cards]; as if they had passed through
many hands.” Fanny was also interested in the obsolete nature of postcards and
handwriting, which much like the postcards themselves are fading away.
To add particular
poignancy, the post cards all bear the postal stamp Sweet Briar College which also
is fading away before our eyes. In her studio, Fanny hung the postcards in such
a way that the viewer was forced to sit on the bed to read the contents. This
uncomfortable intimacy was meant to underscore the voyeurism inherent in
postcards, which are exposed for anyone to read.
On a month-long exchange from
the Oberpfalzer Künstlerhaus in Schwandorf-Fronberg, Germany, this is Fanny’s first residency and second trip to
America. She lived in California for three months when she was 13. Like many visual artists, she records her travel impressions in a
sketchbook. Most of her sketches are of people she encountered. I love these pithy, droll caricatures that seem so on the money. I am sure when she
returns to Regensburg, these wonderful vignettes will serve to jog her memory
and provide amusement for many years to come.
Comments