The images in this series are metaphorical containers for memories. As in Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, these mementos act as building blocks in “the vast structure of recollection.” Often personal, the objects embedded in the panels represent stories of family and friends. Included, for example, are fragments of souvenirs my grandparents brought me as a child. Several panels hold items I salvaged while emptying my mother’s apartment after she died. These everyday relics are the odd bits and pieces that settle to the backs of household drawers, surviving the sifting of what gets used and what gets thrown away. It becomes a game to recognize common objects hidden in the panels: objects that recollect the stories of their migration.
 
The exhibit contains about fifty images, each around twenty-two inches high. Texture is an important component, sometimes with actual textures and other times by the illusion of texture. Several of the pieces have been invited into “tactile” exhibits, in which visitors are encouraged to use sequential touch in exploring the artworks. Since many of the items are familiar, the game of recognition is also available to someone without vision.

Memories are tricky, just like the texture that is sometimes an illusion. As the stories are told, collected, retold, and recollected, they change. The story then takes the place of the memory, and as Proust explains it, “Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.” Building memories requires a strong imagination.