Artist Statement
While previously looking at the idea of memory and the distortion thereof through the lens of landscapes, my current work examines the relationship between memory and identity within the personal experience. Often working within fiber materials and processes as a means of making, collected objects from my own experiences have recently become a source material that I draw upon.
Items that I have kept such as wristbands from local county fairs that are now defunct, attraction brochures from family vacations that will never be replicated, empty shells of pens that I’ve fully used, or things that have been given to me intentionally by others are used to preserve past experiences, memories, and relationships.
This recent body of work looks at collections of these different materials and the relationships that subsequently ensue. I create these arrangements using shadow boxes, a traditional way to display and maintain precious items.
The inspiration of this new work stems from the consistent struggle with the feeling of not belonging where I am and not belonging where I’m from. This personal interaction with displacement has led to an interest in examining the idea of belonging while also looking at nostalgia and the need to hold time still with these artifacts.
Biography
Megan Herring is an artist from Virginia, USA, based in Galway, Ireland. Themes of memory, identity, time, and displacement are the driving force behind her work. Herring graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a Bachelor’s of Fine Art. She has attended a residencies at the Textílsetur Íslands in Blönduós, Iceland; and at the Burren College of Art in County Clare, Ireland. She completed a Master’s of Art at the Galway-Mayo institute of Technology, Center for Creative Arts and Media.
