Constructed Memories of Roots and Dreams

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Dreaming is one our most intimate and powerful experiences that we share as human beings. Dreams are encounters in which we can feel emotions, live our deepest desires, overcome our fears and develop inspiration. They contain symbols that can help us interpret the unconscious mind.  Constructed Memories of Roost and Dreams is a series of works that are dream portraits.  They are representations of both my own and other’s personal dreams.

Constructed Memories of Roots and Dreams began as an exploration of photographic collages of common dream symbols created in a digital scanner commonly known as a scanogram. I collected objects and arranged them on a scanner bed to create a photographic image.  The work provides a glimpse into the symbolic meanings of dreams.  In this series I interviewed family and friends, asking them to narrate memories and emotions of recent dream images. From these interviews I collected and collaged objects, juxtaposing them to convey meaning of the recorded stories. Sound art accompanies these constructions of mixed media works, relaying the listener a short narrative of a dream and providing them a deeper explanation of the piece. My works are either enclosed in a contained area or they are free to move outside the frame. I also use a limited palette, consisting exclusively of rich, muted antiqued tones, in order to establish a unified atmosphere among the pictorial fragments and relics from the past. I add textures and alterations that embellish each artwork to accentuate its handcrafted qualities. The photograph becomes an element of the piece and not the main focus of the artwork. The objects used in each work represent elements from the dream and when collaged together, make the artwork complete. The piece becomes the portrait of the dreamer through my mind’s eye.

Dreams have always been a very vivid part of my life; they have helped me grow and inspired my artworks. I feel it necessary to communicate dreams I have experienced, as well as, to communicate the dreams of close friends and family.  This is a meditative attempt to feel close to those individuals on a subconscious level. 

Melissa Warner