Olivia Harris
Mixed Media
Featured projects
Coffee I
30x30 Canvas exploring photo emulsion and coffee on canvas.
Coffee II
60x60 canvas with photo emulsion and sewing and coffee staining.
Coffee III
60x60 canvas with heavy coffee layering with sewing and photo emulsion.
Coffee IV
60x60 canvas stretched with hessian.
Coffee V
60x60 semi layered canvas, halfway through the process of coffee layering.
Silhouette
30x30 canvas. Exploration of sewing silhouettes onto canvas without coffee to create negative space.
Coffee VI
60x60 canvas with overlapping sewing and photo emulsion.
Coffee VII
60x60 canvas with sewing and photo emulsion and coffee staining.
Olivia Harris
Throughout the past few years of university, I have been exploring the concept of memory, or the lack of it. I have always been interested in mixed media works and experimenting with different materials, which subsequently has lead my interest in researching and developing process work.
I have used a mixture of mediums to explore the metaphorical idea of memory. The idea of my work is that when people look at it, a personal memory is triggered from the absence of the figures, and simply a silhouette is left behind. The thread is a representation of the fragility of memory and how it can easily be broken and lost. The coffee staining links to the sepia tones that were used in photography, as well as evoking a sensory experience alongside the work. The process of my work involves me doing everything by hand and avoiding using modern machinery that would make it quicker. Physically rubbing away at the paper to reveal an image below it adheres to the concept of remembering memories, as well as the struggle to recollect them. My work has been influenced from my own personal experiences with memory loss within my family, through Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.