Narrative Shot of My Cabinet of Curiosity - Childhood Memories.
Final Documentation shot of My Cabinet of Curiosity - Childhood Memories. The bottom part of the cabinet wasn’t fully in shot because of the low angle, but I’m still happy with the picture.
Final Curatorial Statement
My cabinet of curiosity was about childhood memories of when I was a kid growing up in Nigeria. The inspiration to my project came from an artist named Mike Tay. He was inspired by objects that reminded him of his childhood memories in chinatown, this gave me the idea to gather up objects that remind me of my childhood in Nigeria. These objects each on their own have a sentimental meaning behind them, The single rose in my cabinet for example, stands for my mother. Conveniently her name is Rosemary, she loves roses so she grew a lot of rose bushes in our garden back in Nigeria.
The purpose of my cabinet was to share my fondest childhood memory and to show a glimpse of what it was like living in Nigeria. Also to show how great of an adventure it was and the great side of living in Nigeria being surrounded by the culture, food, wildlife and art.
The composition I chose was a wooden cabinet and a black background to make the cabinet stand out. I took a picture of the cabinet in different angles. The shot of my cabinet from a low angle puts the viewer in a position where they’re looking up at the cabinet. This is meant to symbolize the importance of this memory and special it is.
Mike Tay is a designer that I found while researching, he does wallpaper and textile design. He was motivated to create a new print based on his childhood memories of Chinese New Year celebrations and shopping in Chinatown.
Certain objects like movie tickets, heavy velvet curtains and an usher carrying a torch to lead him to the folding wooden chairs with seat numbers marked underneath and a pack of nuts from a kachiam puteh stall. These are the things that formed a large part of his childhood memory of Chinatown at Majestic theatre in the 80s. Catching Chinese opera at Kreta Ayer People’s Theatre was a past time for many till today. New year shopping whether for our new attires, a fresh bunch of chinese blossoms to usher in the arrival of Spring, or yummy goodies to entertain relatives were a must to buy them from Chinatown. The process of creating this pattern was special for him as memories of charming Chinatown floated back into his mind.
This designer’s work is relevant to my work as he is doing something similar. He looks to his childhood memories for inspiration and these are fond memories of his time in chinatown. This is similar to mine because my project is also focused on happy childhood memories.
In the dark room, taking some shots of my Cabinet of curiosity.
While researching I stumbled upon a scottish illustrator, Lucy Campbell. She is strongly influenced by myths as well as her own fascination with the crossover between the physical and the subconscious worlds. Her painting evokes delicate memories of her childhood of something lost, loved or lived.
What inspires her to create these mystical, magical illustrations is this one memory of her childhood when she got lost in the woods, she was scared but at the same time felt a thrill when she realised she could stumble upon a magical dimension. She likes to add this sense of fear, glee, magic and wonder to her paintings.
I like her work because it’s kind of personal and the fact that she’s sharing this little memory plus making it more magical for the viewer. I find this artist is relevant to my work because just like i’m sharing a childhood memory of my life that I cherish, she also is sharing a childhood memory that she’s fond of and is displaying that memory through Illustrations.
My cabinet of curiosity is about childhood memories and after doing a little research, I came across an artist, Adan Banuelos. These images above are of some of his artwork which was inspired by his childhood. He likes to analyze emotions and desires as they evolve from childhood, through adolescence, and into adulthood.
After being asked who he looks up to Banuelos proudly says that he looks up to his father. His father is an immigrant from mexico who might’ve had a huge impact on his style but he never became a full time artist.
His dad was, and still is a very talented, self-taught muralist and sign maker. His father always had side jobs and mostly spent his free time in the garage and job sites. Banuelos loved watching his father paint as a child, he learned a lot about lettering and composition.
I like his work because he shows how our desires change as we grow. This is relevent to my project because as I was inspired by my childhood upbringing, he was also inspired by his childhood experience with his father, painting and making artwork.
This is a picture I took, testing out what my objects would loom like in a white cabinet from a top angle. Also looking at the arrangement of my objects.
These are a few ideas for my lighting and composition that I came up with. I’m very interested in giving my cabinet sort of a dramatic effect, hazy/fuzzy to give it that nostalgic vibe.
Curatorial Statement - Draft 1
My cabinet of curiosity is about my childhood memories of the time I lived in Nigeria, Africa. I chose this part of my life to portray because it is one of my fondest memories. To represent this part of my childhood, the objects that I have chosen will portray a sense of what it was like living in Nigeria. The objects will represent the culture, the wildlife, the weather conditions and the people in Nigeria.
I have decided to use a black background as I feel it will go well with the brown colour of my cabinet, I also chose it because it will help portray how blurry and dark it can be when you are trying to remember a certain memory. I’m thinking of setting the camera at a low angle, either at the bottom right or bottom left corner. I’m keeping the cabinet in its natural wooden state to represent the nature, the culture (wooden carvings) and also to give it an urban vibe.
I was inspired by the memory of my childhood in Africa, the different foods I had as a kid, the exotic art and clothing styles that were embraced and most of all the wildlife that surrounds you, even in the city. The purpose of my cabinet of curiosity is to show how great it was to live in a beautiful exotic country such as Nigeria, filled with culture and to share a very fond memory from my childhood.