The Photogram as a Domestic Diary

Using a heuristic a method of inquiry, my practice-led research investigates a creative visualisation of memory, autobiography, and domestic space. I approach these experiences from the perspective that home is not necessarily a fixed or ideal place, but rather an on-going condition underpinned by the tension between preservation and transformation. Within these parameters, home is defined primarily as a self-referential process whereby memory and autobiography are integral. I examine photograms and paper sculptures as methods of engaging with, recording, and cataloguing memory. How space is perceived and thus translated onto paper informs my understanding of the visceral and direct qualities of memory as an artefact, as well as a mode of storytelling. Through this, my research aims to contribute, through unconventional image-making processes, to how memory can be triggered and home re-constructed as a domestic diary. I argue that memory is provoked by an intimately-scaled, reconstructed portrayal of home as both an iconic and abstracted space whereby touch, light, and paper are necessary aids. Home is an important area of exploration because of its immediate link to memory. My research offers insight into how domestic space can be perceived as a diary.