'Memory Boxes' explores dementia and memory loss. It is a mixed media piece in two and three dimensions which uses my mother's life as a starting point for this exploration. The piece comprises three prints and seven hand made boxes, each box is closed and covered in brown paper, tied with string. The viewer is invited to open the boxes to see the memories contained within. The subjects of the seven boxes are roughly based on Shakespeare's "Seven Ages of Man" from As You Like It (slightly adapted by the artist for Woman). Behind the display of boxes is a set of three etchings, the same image printed on to progressively finer paper so that the image becomes less sharp. At the time of the making and first exhibition of this piece my mother was approaching the end of a long and happy life. Six weeks after this show, she passed away peacefully. Two weeks later, I learnt that the print, 'Precious' which was based on a photograph of her taken on her 90th birthday, had been accepted into the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

 

A fitting memorial.