Memento

 

Croaking Frog

wood, acrylic paint

2" x 2.5" x 2.25"

This sculpture is meant to represent my family vacation to Puerto Rico when I was young, where I visited my great-grandmother in her home. Throughout the places we visited, many gift shops and tourist locations often sold frog figurines sculpted from wood, each one painted with vibrant colors. These frogs appeared everywhere, from bobbleheads, to fans, to standalone figures. The type that I most remember are guiro rasps, commonly known as “croaking frogs.” These are a type of hollow, wooden instrument, though they don’t always take the shape of a frog. When you run a stick against the ridges along a croaking frogs back, it makes a sound similar to a “ribbit” — hence the name. I wanted to represent the shape of this instrument in the sculpture, and I wanted to choose rich and vibrant colors.

When staying in my great-grandmothers house, my bed was right by a window. Every night, through this window, I could see fireflies outside of the window. Of course, this was coupled with the sound of croaking frogs. I used yellow and blue paint on this piece to represent the fireflies that I saw against the night sky outside of that window.

On Longing

"The body is the primary mode of perceiving scale"

On Longing, Susan Stewart

            Immediately, this line made me think of theme parks -- which is fitting. A lot of theme parks, most notably Disney, have grand structures scattered around the park that rely on forced perspective. One of my favorite memories of theme parks was the trip I took to Walt Disney World with some friends after graduation. It was easily the best vacation I've ever had, and I'm grateful that I got to share those memories with them. Even with us all in front of the castle, it still looks huge. In reality, the Disney World castle isn't that large, it's all forced perspective.

"The souvenir speaks to a context of origin through a language of longing"

On Longing, Susan Stewart

            This sentence makes me think of when my boyfriend was away at bootcamp. All we had to communicate were letters. They were handwritten, of course, so I couldn't see any pictures or hear his voice. I often looked through old pictures of him and us together that I took prior to him leaving. Though I couldn't see him in person, and missed him greatly, looking at pictures did really help to ease that feeling.

"The souvenir reduces the public, the monumental, and the three-dimensional into the miniature, that which can be enveloped by the body."

On Longing, Susan Stewart

            When I hear this sentence, I think of all the posts I've made to commemorate shows that I've been apart of. Nothing can compare to the real live performance, of course, so I've always found it challenging when selecting what images/videos to include. How do I condense such a big show into a little ten-slide carousel? I felt this more when posting about my senior show, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, in which I played the lead. Theatre had always been such a huge part of my life, and I knew that my senior shows would likely be one of my last times performing. I still have my costume (made out of a pink bedsheet) in a tote somewhere in my house.

"The souvenir is used most often to evoke a voluntary memory of childhood."

On Longing, Susan Stewart

            Also in my senior year of high school, I hosted a little Halloween party at my house. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, but I had never hosted or attended a dedicated party for it. So I asked my mom, and she finally agreed to let me do it before leaving for college. My friends showed up dressed in all sorts of costumes, from Carrie to the Founding Fathers. It was easily the most fun Halloween I've ever had, and it was a fulfillment of something I've always wanted to do since I was a kid.

"The place of origin must remain unavailable in order for desire to be generated."

On Longing, Susan Stewart

            Shortly after the end of my senior year of high school, my 11 1/2-year-old dog had to get put down due to him developing intestinal cancer. I already knew I wouldn't have much time with him left, so I decided to put him onto my graduation cap. The decoration was a little haphazard, but that's because I decided to make it last minute. I took this picture of my dog, Bingo, with the cap that featured him. He's gone, but the cap's still here. Currently, it's sitting on display on a shelf in the front room of my house.