1941
2012 This work was the start of my ongoing fascination with the distortion and suppression of memory, and my exploration into ways in which the past is represented and remembered. It began as an interpretation of an album of my Grandmother’s photographs containing photos of her time as a sports teacher in North Germany during the 1930’s.
Her numerous photo albums detail so many events in her life, but in this album there is a sense that something is missing. An undecipherable letter is placed next to an image of an unidentified high ranking German official. Photographs of sport camps follow, holidays, her life as a teacher. And then photographs of the empty Nuremberg stadium, with no explanation for her being there, just a date. This series re-interprets these and other found archive images. Within it, the process of drawing becomes a metaphor for the distortion of memory and the biased nature of history.
German-English Illustrator and Artist based in Brighton, UK
My work explores how illustration can be used as an active tool for understanding, interpreting and re-evaluating dominant narratives and discourse about historical events. How can illustration add to our understanding of history, how can it challenge it, and what is the value of providing alternative viewpoints to the mainstream?
I am interested in exploring and highlighting the ways in which history is recorded, suppressed, remembered and distorted. I have become particularly interested in how meaning and underlying power structures contained within archival records can be interpreted through the act of drawing. Often working with archival artefacts and personal testimony, I create narrative sequences and visual essays that explore my own relationship to history.
I am interested in exploring and highlighting the ways in which history is recorded, suppressed, remembered and distorted. I have become particularly interested in how meaning and underlying power structures contained within archival records can be interpreted through the act of drawing. Often working with archival artefacts and personal testimony, I create narrative sequences and visual essays that explore my own relationship to history.