Rachel Kobb

Where my memory settles

My memory is blurry but ever present in an atmospheric state. Through my investigations of memory and sensorial experience, this thesis is an attempt to understand how the body recalls the spaces I have spent the most time: my various homes through life.

The output of this thesis is a paper installation that layers and translates spatial qualities of my past homes. The home is not a neutral container, but instead a space that should support a sense of retreat and security. Drawing upon Gaston Bachelard’s zones of experience, I explore how a domestic space is moved through distinct zones. This framework becomes a generative tool for the installation where each zone (threshold, material surface, scent and light) is reinterpreted through my own bodily memory. The result is a new space that exists nowhere in memory alone, but emerges from a layering of these sensory explorations.  

This thesis is rooted in the present, however as memory is continually morphing, the work can take numerous forms and is open to reconfiguration. It is not fixed nor will it ever be. Its perpetual evolution is reflective of the qualities of memory and in doing so the work becomes an ongoing process of translation rather than a predetermined outcome.

Where my memory settles
paper installation
7x3'

Drawings featured on the surface of Where my memory settles.

Miniature model of a vertical spice wall that wraps around a staircase. Featured in an adaptive reuse project which reimagines a NYC townhouse into a Cambodian restaurant.