Have you ever wondered why you are interested in the things that you enjoy?
I often questioned my love for art and photography, wondering why I was so drawn to it. I started connecting the dots when my grandfather gave me his old camera. I had never known he was interested in photography. Once I got the opportunity to see his work, I was shocked to see how talented he was. He had no formal training, but the structure and composition of the photos seemed to be flawless.
While doing research on an unrelated topic, I stumbled upon a theory called “genetic memory.” This is the idea that memories from past generations are passed down to us through our DNA, forming our personalities and interests. I decided to go back through my grandpa’s work and see what I could make of it to represent this concept.
I began pasting my grandfather’s imagery all over Columbia, Missouri. I did so with a process called wheatpaste. I created a glue-like mixture that would breakdown over time and cause the imagery to decay. This was a representation of the memories being passed through DNA and turning into something new. As the images decayed I continued to photograph them, turning it into my own work.
While doing this, I created a series of filters in photoshop and created a program to run the images through a random set of the filters. These new distorted images represent new ideas and the next generation.
