Vague Familiarity: Hilary Miriam Whorms

Through an introspective interpretation of captured moments, I explore the uncertainty of space and time and the transitory human experience. My thesis work is a series of small oil paintings on paper that depict softly rendered figures and gestural interpretations of the sky, sourced from five-generations of old family photographs and images I have taken of clouds. Within translucent glazes, muted colours and subtly developed forms, I have created a collection of anonymous, intimate paintings, displayed together in a collective existence. The perishable nature and the texture of paper is emphasized in the work, so that the materiality is physically merged with the faded memory depicted. The delicacy of the painted surface correlates to the fragile photographs I have collected.

Many aspects of photography blur reality and hide details; I have taken liberties to interpret and reimagine the photos, allowing for remembrance and discovery through imagination and process. The figures represented are not meant to be a direct likeness, but instead defy the ubiquity of purely photographic imagery through visual techniques of obscurity. There is a sense of universality and familiarity in images from this era, as if they could belong to anyone’s collection of family photos. Similarly, isolated stills of clouds have an ambiguous style: without physical markers they could be from anywhere, anytime.

I am fascinated by the parallel between fading photographs and memories, and how this reflects the fleeting and temporal nature of life. While this work started as a personal exploration, rooted in a study of family and identity, it evolved into a representation of the human experience through my technical and conceptual choices. My interpretations and recreations of the past visually depict the process of time, as intangible clouds and ghostly figures [dis]appear and [re]emerge with vague familiarity.



Website: https://hilarymiriamart.format.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hilarymiriamart/

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