Fragmented mnemonics : an investigation into contemporary jewellery as means of externalizing memory

• Main Author: Groenewald, Joani
• Other Authors: Veldsman, Nanette
• Format: Others
• Language: en_ZA
• Published: Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University 2015
• Subjects: Memory in art; Jewelry in art; Mnemonics; UCTD
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/96841

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis interrogates my own memory in order to illustrate its fragmented and unstable nature. I revisit a specific childhood memory and attempt to recreate it visually through the creation of jewellery pieces. However, the unattainability of a consistent memory becomes increasingly evident in the process of its externalization. My work thus speaks of the unravelling of memory, as well as the piecing together and imagining of a new memory. This thesis and my practical work are an exploration of this ambivalent nature of memory. Even though memory is concerned with the past, it is also about the present as our memories can also be manipulated by present prejudices. === AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek my eie geheue met die doel om die onstabiele en gefragmenteerde aard daarvan uit te wys. Ek verwys na ‘n spesifieke herinnering van my kinderdae en poog om dit visueel uit te beeld deur die maak van juweelstukke. Die onbekombaarheid van ‘n konstante geheue word egter al hoe duideliker wanneer ek my herinneringe visueel probeer uitbeeld. My werk demonstreer die ontrafeling van my herinnering en die konstruksie en verbeelding van ‘n nuwe herinnering. Hierdie tesis en my praktiese werk dui op die ondersoek van die wispilturige aard van die geheue. Hoewel herinneringe en die geheue te make het met die verlede, het dit egter ook te make met die hede, aangesien die hede ons herinneringe van die verlede kan manipuleer om aktuele behoeftes te bevredig.