Body, Memory House: Basement Version
Body, Memory House: Basement Version, is an artist's book rendition of Oliver's debut chapbook Body, Memory House (Gingerbug Press).
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The text follows the narrator through a psychedelic house, confronting a different relationship in each room that must be revisited. The House Essay articulates the various nuances of relationships and hyper-sexuality as a result of trauma, organized in a way which mimics the conscious examination of trauma as a means to move past it.
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The text, started in Ireland, 2019, and completed in late 2021, served as a roadmap and grounding point for the installation shown in Proximity (Grossman Gallery, Boston, MA). The series curated for Proximity consists of seven photographic prints and four poems printed on organza, utilizing the relationship between diaristic text and image-making to document the
re-performance of memory— at once revealing and concealing, as memory often turns to autofiction. The use of self portraits complicates the photographs position as ‘the truth,’ questioning the reliability of personal narrative and ownership of the self.
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The sentiment body = memory house is slowly becoming the thesis of my practice.
8.5" x 11" x 2"
Matte inkjet film, clear acrylic, magnet binding, clamshell box
