TO SEND US YOUR MEMORY...

The Memory Bank Project holds the stories, memories and voices of people of all ages, from all around the world, and from right here in our neighborhoods.

It collects:

• memories that are the reflection of a single poignant moment in your past
• a turning point
• an experience that you can still "feel" and remember in your body, as if it had just happened
• a moment of great loss, or of great happiness; a moment of confusion or of profound learning; a single small gesture or a grand spectacle
• a memory that contains your idea of 'home' as you understand it
• a memory that, somehow, defines you
• a memory you can describe in a breath, or, to be more precise, in 200 words or so

Send your memory or questions to The Memory Bank Project by emailing us at:
e@evelynserrano.net

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Early this year I was invited to be a part of an art exhibition curated by Annie Buckley and John Souza entitled “Psychic Outlaws”, at CalState University/Los Angeles’ Luckman Arts Complex. The curators invited a group of artists and writers to create original artwork based on our readings and interpretation of the novel by the same title, written by Buckley a couple of years earlier. Given my interest in the topics of memory, language, and translation, I was immediately drawn to the first section of the book (The Memory) in which we meet the main character, and learn that she “just didn’t have any memories, save the one.” Emily holds onto this single memory of her childhood “like a talisman”.

Throughout my reading of Annie Buckley’s text, I kept remembering very specific moments of my own past, that, in many ways, would come to define me. A note that my sister and I wrote on a wall right before leaving our home of 19 years, and our homeland; a day at the beach, the water like hot soup, our parents’ quarrels sinking like lava; the moment my child left my body and was born into the world…

I decided to create The Memory Bank Project, an ongoing multimedia work that collects, and will later on map the memories and stories of people from our neighborhoods and beyond.  The texts and images I’ve received in the last couple of months have been collected in a book (available via Lulu.com), and were the seed for a performance piece conceived in collaboration with Carmina Escobar. As the project continues to grow and evolve, all entries will continue to be documented in this blog. The entries are posted in the order I receive them, and the content is not edited in any way. 

I would like to thank John and Annie for the opportunity to create and share this project as part of their very unique exhibition concept. To my collaborators, designer Tiffanie Tran, and artist and performer Carmina Escobar, I would like to express my gratitude for their generous spirits and wealth of talent. And to the contributors of The Memory Bank Project, I thank you deeply for your courage and generosity in sharing your Voice and memories with us all.

Los Angeles, August, 2010

ARTIST BIO

Evelyn Serrano is a Cuban interdisciplinary artist, educator, independent curator, community organizer, and mother currently living in Los Angeles County, California. Serrano obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts, School of Art, in Valencia, California. Prior to that, she studied visual arts, design, art theory, epistemology, and literature in Havana, Montevideo and Miami. She has exhibited her work in many solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. In addition, she is honored to have worked with talented artists, choreographers, writers and performers in many exhibitions, projects and art events she has organized and curated throughout the United States as well as in Montevideo, Tel Aviv, Tijuana, and La Habana. Serrano currently teaches at the CalArts School of Theater and at Antioch University, and has lectured and led workshops at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, the CEART in Mexicali, the Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, the University of Texas in Dallas, and the Instituto Superior de Diseño Industrial in La Habana, among others. Her work is focused on context-specific practices that advance the impact of the arts as a tool for social change.


Contact: e@evelynserrano.net
Artist's Website: www.evelynserrano.net