Monika Lin

Monika Lin, “Memory Boxes,” found objects, resin, found box, 37 x 11.5 x 10cm, 2014

The manner in which we have defined history, textbook history, is through the recording of observation and memory. Even if intended as an absolute truth, each recorded moment is based on an individual’s viewpoint, which is determined by class, race, gender; on normative behaviors, customs or interpretations; and on the memory of what that individual believes or wants to be true. Therefore, written history is always a distortion, a singular and often narrow view perpetuated by an elite group. In looking at histories, I have become interested in this selective nature of history and memory and its further transformation as it moves from generation to generation, culture to culture.

In 1995, inspired by having inherited some of my Grandmother’s, Great Grandmother’s and Great, Great Grandmother’s collections of postcards, wedding invitations, bank statements, birth and death announcements and letters, I set about to create a group of works using the inherited items and other items found or given to me.

These “Memory Boxes” are comprised of items from my family’s past, stories and objects and histories which have and continue to shape me. And, yet, they are only a portion of that history. The past and the items I inherited were selected for me from a much larger truth, just as I select which of these edited items I will use in my memory boxes. The boxes are a possibility of one history, and, in this manner, also a commentary on history en masse. Decisions regarding value/merit, representation, perspective are made through a selective, subjective process, then must survive translation to paper, generations, political (and personal) agendas before being presented. This process is specific and personal. In truth, history is as fragmented and random as my memory boxes. These boxes are a sort of examination of histories and their constructs—what we keep or edit, reveal or save privately, and how that information is shared.