How It Used To Be, How It Is Now

After I returned from my research trip to London, I made a short animation about one particular experience I had when I was there. In recalling the stories of my childhood, when my mother would tell me about her home and neighborhood that she grew up in (Abbeywood, London), I was interested in visiting her childhood home. This was a home that my mother's family lived in shortly after WWII up until they died in the 1970's. The garden of my mother's memories was a special place. Since the house has not been in our family since the late Seventies and my mother preferred to remember the house as she knew it, if I wanted to visit, it would be without her. I contacted the current owners and they invited me to tour the house with my sister (who acted as my guide since she remembered it as a child). It was a strange visit. I had never been to this house, but I had envisioned it many times. My older sister had many more memories as she had often gone to visit as a child. When we arrived, it was evident that there were numerous changes. Time had not been kind. There was hardly anything left that was reminiscent of my mother's time. I looked out the window of my mum's former bedroom; what once was a beautiful garden, now was a pile of dirt. Later, I had my mother make a memory drawing of the garden of her childhood. Taking some old  photos, my mum's drawing, and my recent photograph, I made this collage.

Comments

[Clifton Jones]

I thought this was incredible, the idea of breathing life into a memory. I was surprised by these personal feelings, since I have not even a remote connection to this place. Was this construction possible because the photo showed a barren garden? Would the collage evoke the same feelings had the garden been full of life? ... Wow.