Oil Paint, Layered Mirror and Glass, Handcrafted Wooden Frame
28″ x 45″
2025
This piece explores how the items we cherish serve as symbols of memories, and how, despite time physically eroding the objects themselves, the sentiments they represent remain with us, shaping us indefinitely. This concept is illustrated through a ghostly figure of a girl facing an array of mementos she has placed on an altar, reflecting a desire to hold onto what is dear. However, there is an underlying recognition that, like all things, these objects will inevitably decay. This is emphasized by the colors of the sunset in the piece, symbolizing a time of day that naturally progresses, intensifying the impending heartache of loss. As the audience observes, they will notice that the very items she grieves have begun to seep into her figure, representing hope—a dawning realization that the belongings she treasures will continue to endure within her, just as the memories we cherish will always remain with us.
Her ghostly figure stands in the fleeting space between night and day, caught in the fear of what the darkness will bring. She has felt time’s quiet pull of change before, and wishes to preserve what she has left by hastily placing her cherished belongings on an altar. But, as it always does, the night creeps in and slowly wears them away. Heartbroken, she aimlessly presses on until the first hint of dawn appears. Only then, as the sunlight begins to touch her, does she see that the mementos she sought to keep are reflected in her image. The memories within them are now part of her, woven into the very fabric of her being. She now understands that while time may erode physical keepsakes, the love and meaning of the memories they represent will always remain, as steady and as sure as the sunrise.
Rachael Kucken 