Monica Chau
2007 Biennial Talk
Run Time: 6:15
Retracing the past is a central and recurrent theme of my work. The gaps formed between history and memory or between factual events and our recollections are what I attempt to disclose. The sense of place and time my work alludes to is suspended between layers of remembering and forgetting, seeing and not seeing, so that the junction between historic markers (physical or psychological) and memory spaces is made more visible. These juxtapositions are aimed at dislocating the viewer’s understanding of our social or cultural landscape, while perhaps cultivating a larger awareness between what we remember of history and what is fact, past or present.
R.I.P. (Rest in Peace) refers to the ever-declining populations of native fish that have historically inhabited the Gulf of Maine. For thousands of years, migratory fish have long been part of the lore, as well as lure, of Maine and its rivers. I created headstones using reclaimed barn wood which makes an iconic reference to Maine’s agricultural and economic history. Each headstone is marked with a wood-burned image dedicated to a particular endangered, threatened, or extinct fish. Some fish are easily identified—Atlantic Salmon, Halibut, Cod, or Shortnose Sturgeon—while others from our recent past are vague recollections (Shad, Flounder, or Bluefish). All told, if the facts remain true, the pleasures of our passions portend a radically altered historical and geographical landscape in the not-so-distant future.