Kris Campo: Decades, 2015
In ‘Track & Traces, # 2, Decades’, my memories stand central, grouped according to the five decades I lived when starting this work. More specifically, ‘Decades’ consists of five ceramic objects created in my specific shapes, with scenery based on pictures from both my personal life and important events that I remembered from the headlines. The scenery is only made of photographs cut in pieces and put together into a pattern. Neutral white-painted furniture from the corresponding period is used as a stand. Details of the scenery on the ceramic objects are reflected in seven large prints on rice paper, connected by a long photo ribbon representing an abstract timeline.
Each of the five objects covers a decade, from the sixties up to now. Details of the photographs of each period have been put together in a pattern. These details can be either about small things like my preference as a youngster for the stories of ‘Martine’ as a little girl in the 60’s, or represent more traumatic events during the same period like the fire in the ‘Innovation’, a big shopping mall in Brussels, of which I still recall the burning smell.
Across ‘Decades’ different themes are covered like the diminishing influence of the catholic education or the aftermath of the sixties where we, as teenagers took advantage to claim our own freedom; the development of our interests and the building of one’s life, the importance and the influence of the people surrounding us on our way to look at both life and the world. Choices we make ourselves, or choices that are imposed on us and influence the rest of our lives, and historic events such as the fall of the Berlin wall or 9/11, which have an enormous impact on our way of living together. Loss and sadness as well as new life, coziness, and discoveries…
‘Decades’ is an unconventional walk through both my personal history and the common history. It is a personal retrospect on the last fifty years, a reinterpretation of my own memories, coloured by time.
Captions
- Decades ‘60’, 2015, clay, colored bone china, decalcomanie, Dimensions: h: 21cm, d:25cm. © Stanislas Huaux
- Communion, 2015, rice paper print, Dimensions: h: 21cm, d:25cm. © Stanislas Huaux
- Decades ‘70’, 2015, clay, colored bone china, decalcomanie, Dimensions: l: 100,9cm, w: 60cm. © Stanislas Huaux
- Generations, 2015, rice paper print, Dimensions: l: 107,08cm, w: 60cm. © Stanislas Huaux
- Decades ‘00’, 2015, clay, colored bone china, decalcomanie, Dimensions: h: 34cm, d: 24cm. © Stanislas Huaux
- Moslima, 2015, rice paper print, Dimensions: l: 107,97cm, w: 60cm. © Stanislas Huaux