Narrative/Memory

Jacqueline Wilson exhibition

Following the theme Narration (memory), I decided to research different forms of storytelling - this included primary source photographs from places that I have visited which depict a story. Examples of these places are: Casa Di Guillietta (house of Juliet in Verona, Italy) where loved ones from all around the world would share their love stories via writing on the wall, or on a padlock attached to the gate, the Bayeux Tapestry in Normandy, France, which depicts the conquest of England by William Duke of Normandy, and also engravings under the Great Clock of Rouen, in Rouen, France.


During my research I visited the Museum of Childhood where I was inspired by the Jacqueline Wilson exhibition, and also visited the Tate Britain where artists John Martin, Francis Danby and Joseph Mallard William Turner intrigued me with their visual, biblical storytelling. Post viewing the Jacqueline Wilson exhibition, I discovered that I was much more interested by the overall presentation, as opposed to the individual works on display.


I was then encouraged to look into installation pieces and remembered Phyllida Barlow’s installation “Dock” exhibiting at the Tate Britain - I decided to revisit the Tate Britain to investigate Barlow’s piece. From previous knowledge, I remembered installation artist, Dan Perjovschi. His works are drawn onto either black or white walls in a child-like appearance, to portray ‘adult’ topics such as politics. Something that I particuarly like about Perjovschi’s work, is his ability to communicate such an in-depth meaning to  the spectators through a more ‘simplistic’ appearance. I have now decided, that I would like to create an installation piece depicting my memories to help to narrate my life, just like the presentation of Jacqueline Wilson’s exhibition narrated her life and journey to creating her stories. The overall appearance will be inspired by Perjovschi, by using ‘child-like’ drawings. 

Dan Perjovschi installation

In order to do this, I will find drawings that I created as a child, along with other children’s drawings, in order to mimic the mindset of the age that I will be communicating. As memories are very broken and often forgotten, I will follow the rules of Epic Theatre narration, and thus use an Episodic dramatic structure as I can cover over a vast period of time through episodes, and each episode will have a beginning middle and end, while the overall piece as a whole, will not be in chronological order, and thus will not have a typical structure - this way each scene can jump, and there can be missing information, just like the memories in our brains.