Portfolio > Memory

Much of my work over the years has explored various aspects of memory and how it is captured, colored, and distorted by personal perception.

I often use found photographs in this work. What interested me about these abandoned images was the loss of identity - a sort of amnesia - they embodied. Family photos hold so much emotion for the people they represent, but lose that power when they lose the stories behind them. They become cultural artifacts with ambiguous meaning, or disembodied ghosts of their subjects’ lives.

In my series, “memory experiments,” I build vaguely scientific devices that illustrate various mechanisms that receive, store and retrieve memories. This work was informed by my research into the neurology and psychology of memory and perception, which revealed astounding complexities and frailties within the inner workings of our brains.

Beverly Rayner,Holding on,altered photograph,painted photograph,mixed media photograph,altered vintage photograph,hands
archival pigment print, metallic pigmented wax
17" x 15.5" in frame
Memory Encapsulation Network #2
neoprene coated rope, rubber bulbs, latex tubing, lenses, photographs, wire
58.5" x 70" x 19"
2006
Memory Encapsulation Network #2 (detail 1)
neoprene coated rope, rubber bulbs, latex tubing, lenses, photographs, wire
detail
2006
Memory Encapsulation Network #2 (detail 2)
neoprene coated rope, rubber bulbs, latex tubing, lenses, photographs, wire
detail
2006
Amnesiac
metal, photographs, vellum, shellac, plexiglas, wire
13.5" x 11" x 7.5"
1996
Convolutions of time and memory
metal springs, peeled photographs, thread, fabric, pigment
25" x 39" x 6"
1997
Convolutions of time and memory (detail)
metal springs, peeled photographs, thread, fabric, pigment
detail
2008
Memory Experiment #1: Diminishing returns
wood, beeswax, photographs, glas
13" x 24" x 2"
1999
Oral Histories (installation)
books, photographs, pigments
variable
1996
Oral Histories (detail)
books, photographs, pigments
detail
1996
Murmurs of memory
photographs, beeswax, wood, paint, nails
17" x 17" x 2.5"
1995
Storytellers
book, vintage photographs, beeswax
7.5" x 5" x 1"
1993
Optic Nerve Bundle: afterimages
wood, wire, photographs, lenses, hardware, paint
36.5" x 26.5" x 3"
2005
Optic Nerve Bundle: afterimages (detail)
wood, wire, photographs, lenses, hardware, paint
detail
2005
Only the ghosts remain
vintage negatives, metal bracket, wire
91" x 4.5" x 17"
1996
Only the ghosts remain (detail)
vintage negatives, metal bracket, wire
detail
2008
Whisperers
wood, beeswax, photographs, paint
73" x 5" x 2"
1997
Whisperers (detail)
wood, beeswax, photographs, paint
detail
1997
Amnesiac #2
photographs, metal, wood. fabric
24" x 9" x 10"
1998
Fading recollection #3
vintage photographs, wood, masonite, velveteen
37" x 33" x 1"
1998
Fading recollection #3 (detail)
vintage photographs, wood, masonite, velveteen
detail
1998