The psychological benefits – and trappings – of nostalgia
My final piece is rooted in nostalgia, in the personal nostalgia I feel towards these old found objects but also in the act of performing a task that I used to think about so often. The challenge with this piece is conveying the nostalgia through these pieces alone, as to the viewers, they are new; my artist’s statement will solve part of this dilemma but interpreting the piece will up to the viewers. Some alternative interpretations that I expect to hear will be that the piece is a statement on the troubles of growing up, the small scope of childhood or that it is a technical art piece that demonstrates refined, detailed small-scale painting designed to impress rather than inspire. None of these are what I intend to convey but every piece will be interpreted differently by everyone and I would be interested and pleased to hear these responses from people regardless.
The article deals with the dangers of nostalgia ruining the present but goes on to highlight its positive effects, the happiness it can bring and the motivation it can inspire when looking towards a future even better than the tantalizing past.
‘A 2015 study showed that nostalgic reminiscence can be a stabilizing force. It can strengthen our sense of personal continuity, reminding us that we possess a store of powerful memories that are deeply intertwined with our identity. The person who listened to his grandpa’s stories as a little boy, played youth baseball and partied with friends in high school is still that same person today’.
This effectively surmises the kind of mood for this pieces nostalgic value, not reminiscing but moving on, concluding the past and anticipating the future with optimism and joy. I really hope people will feel a sense of nostalgia upon understanding my piece and reflecting on all the unfinished business they had forgotten about…
What role does memory play in art?
Memory is what started this project. From the moment I found the plastic warriors at the beginning of the year and reminiscing over them, I knew it was something special; and personal. During the article, Anthony Natoli writes ‘With the idea of memory in mind, some artists try to document things exactly as they are in order to create a record for future generations. But others deliberately frame the past in different or unexpected ways to change the way we think about history’
I am of course taking the same approach to the subject of memory described here, diligently documenting the process and creating something that I wanted to see in the past, in the present. By spreading the materials and tools that I used to paint my final piece around in an abstract wall of creative process contrasted with the simplicity of the painted figures; I will be changing the way the viewer perceives this creative process and ask the viewer if the work being created is any less valuable than the tools used to create it by displaying them both side by side. By emphasising the role memory plays in this piece, I hope I can illustrate a message people will remember once the show’s over.
Why You Can Never Finish Anything And How To Finally Change It
A central theme to my work and one that I at least, believe is perfectly valid is the message that everyone should follow the piece’s example, get inspired and wrap up some unfinished business of their own. In the article, Ferrari states ‘Not everything is meant to be finished, but many of us have a boatload of projects that have been relegated to a kind of purgatory of incompletion‘. I couldn’t agree more with this statement, it’s true that not everything is meant to be finished and the definition of ‘meant to’ is only decided by your own memories and sentimentality, if it means a lot to you then you should do it.
This last article is particularly relevant and motivated me far more than expected, it brings me to another message that I believe my project demonstrates effectively, that everyone should just go out and do ‘it’, what ‘it’ is is different from person to person but if I can spend such a vulgar amount of time on a decade old project and complete it as a sentimental gift to my childhood self then you too can certainly get it done, as this article so eloquently asserts.
Ozzy Chambers' blog 