Art can be a vessel for remembering in many ways, whether depicting memories of the past, sharing personal or joint nostalgia, or putting an image to an often hard to describe feeling. Here, we share works from artists which have explored these themes through a variety of mediums and inspirations.

 

Tessa Shaw | My Angel | 2020 | Cyanotype on handtorn paper | Original | Signed by the artist on verso | 115 x 76 cm | £1,600 (unframed) | Perfect Daze | 2019 | Cyanotype on handtorn paper | Original | Signed by the artist on verso |113 x 76 cm | £1,500 (unframed)

 

Tessa Shaw's botanical cyanotypes imprint the literal memory of gathered plants directly on to paper. The nature of the cyanotype printing process leans into the physical imagery of memory, resulting in ghostly, almost melancholic images that appear to blow in the breeze. Outlines and details are exposed to the elements and leave their bright marks on the surface, physical silhouettes of what was once there.

 

 

Speaking on the her fascination with recording the nature around her, Tessa shares that, "When I’m in Somerset, I’m looking at changing nature and its extraordinary resilience to the weather. I now have an amazing wilderness garden, not my mother’s, but 2 miles away in Goathurst, Somerset. When the deer aren’t chomping the flowers, I’m looking at them and trying to capture my moods in the weather."

 

Georgia Merton | Passing the Time | Cyanotype on cotton rag paper | Edition of 10 | 70 x 100 cm | £1,200

 

Depicting memories of family holidays and summer travels in the cyanotype medium, Georgia uses her own exposed photographs to create her prints, exploring the idea of family holidays as seen through the eyes of her children.

 

Georgia Merton | Sunrise Moon | Cyanotype on cotton rag paper | Edition of 10 | 70 x 100 cm | £1,200

 

"Re-imagining objects through my camera lens, and seeing nature through the eyes of [her] young children" Georgia's works are snapshots of moments from life. While Tessa uses physical materials of nature in her cyanotypes, Georgia's capture moments from our experiences of the world, and put them to print.

 

Lucinda Metcalfe | Deeper and Deeper | Oil on canvas | Original | Signed by the artist | Framed in a white box frame |80 x 60 cm | £2,100


Lucinda Metcalfe's oil paintings are inspired by classic imagery from holiday brochures and childhood trips, resulting in scenes which feel slightly uncanny, suggestive of false memories.

 

Lucinda Metcalfe | Hot Sand | 2020 | Oil on canvas | Framed in a white tray frame | Original | 100 x 150 cm | £3,500

 

Each piece brings forth memories of scenes we recognise from holiday advertisements or our own trips, but the images are often empty, and slightly too saturated, disrupting "our escapist longings" by making us question the reality of our own nostalgia.

 

Katsutoshi Yuasa | Le Passage #1 | 2010 | Water based woodcut on Japanese paper | Signed and editioned by the artist on verso | Edition of 10 | 60 x 45 cm | £700 (unframed)

 

Katsutoshi Yuasa's incredible woodcut prints merge digital and physical mediums, taking digitally captured images and photographs, and re-imagining them through traditional Japanese printmaking techniques. The result are ghostly, slightly blurred images that mirror the feeling of hazy visualisations of memories. Created during the 2020 lockdowns, the 'VR London Live' series presents Katsutoshi's longing for a London he could not visit, choosing instead to watch virtual tours of the city online.

 

Katsutoshi Yuasa | VR London Live Walk 1 | 2021 | Water based woodcut on hand made thick Japanese paper | Signed and editioned by the artist on verso | Edition of 10 | 62 x 94.5 cm | £1,800 (unframed)

 

Katsutoshi Yuasa | VR London Live Walk 3 | 2021 | Water based woodcut on hand made thick Japanese paper | Signed and editioned by the artist on verso | Edition of 10 | 62 x 94.5 cm | £1,800 (unframed)

 

Katsutoshi spoke about the strangeness of nostalgia in this moment of isolation:
"Looking at the city over the screen, I certainly had nostalgia but felt unfulfilled at the same time. I could not feel the real emotions experienced with travels through this virtual tour. I decided to turn these images into a piece of work. Every day, I travelled in my head as I carved into plywood."
Excerpt from the book 'Katsutoshi Yuasa: Imagemaker', available to order HERE

 

Susan Aldworth | Dark Self 5 | 2017 | Monoprint | Signed by the artist | Framed | 56 x 76 cm | £2,500

 

 

Printing directly from objects, Susan Aldworth's series of monoprints create a physical 'memory' on the paper, full of intricate detail and a real sense of narrative. The 'Dark Self' series depicts the familiar feeling of falling into dreams, while 'Traces of Childhood' are ghostly echoes of times gone by, using real antique clothing on the printing press to create each image. The clothes were given to Susan as an anonymous gift, which had been kept in a bottom drawer by an unknown mother. 

 

 

Susan Aldworth | Traces of a Childhood 9 | 2018 | Monoprint | Signed by the artist | 56 x 76 cm | £1,800

 

"I wanted to portray the ‘memory’ of those unknown children which was contained in the clothes. Transforming these beautifully made baby clothes into individual printing plates, I ensured that each print has the direct ‘touch’ of the child on them. Printed in silver and gold ink onto black Somerset paper, these monotypes are a series of haunting images which evoke the traces of a childhood."

 

Susan Aldworth | Traces of a Childhood 1 | 2018 | Monoprint | Signed by the artist | 76 x 56 cm | £1,800

 

When visiting Susan's studio last year, we spoke about the 'Traces of Childhood' project, with Susan explaining,"The clothes have been loved by the mother, worn by the baby, and so printing from them seemed to turn them into lovely objects. And again, I’m using hair and string, feathers, to suggest the person who was the baby, or even the love that the mother had for them.”

 

David Wightman | Evangeline ii | 2026 | Acrylic and collaged wallpaper on canvas | Original | Signed by the artist | 80 x 130 cm | £3,500

 

David Wightman's vivid landscapes use our memories of past travels and explorations to create a sense of familiarity and recognition within the scene, despite each landscape being imagined.
Peaks and rocky formations are recognisable, yet uncertain, creating the sense that we have been here before, but can't place where 'here' is.

 


In our 2024 'In The Studio' interview with David, we talked about his process of creating these imagined landscapes through amalgamations of place and memory.

"They’re all imaginary landscapes; my very early pieces were real places (...) and I just didn’t like being bound by them. I found myself making mountains bigger, introducing certain elements, taking away certain elements, and it just seemed better to start from nothing. So they have an origin of realness, and I want them to be believable, I want people to look at them and wonder if they are real places, if they do exist, if they're amalgams or hybrids in some way, but they’re all imaginary landscapes."

 

 

Works by each artist featured can be browsed and purchased on their artist pages. Please get in touch at info@tagfinearts.com with any enquiries.