“Free Dirt” by Artist Jay Wilkinson

A body of work about the nature of memory by artist Jay Wilkinson. Created for a solo exhibition at Bale Creek Allen Gallery last year, “Free Dirt” reflects Wilkinson’s attempt to reconcile the fact that memory is an imperfect record and the only constant in human identity beyond the present moment. According to Wilkinson, we base much of who we are not on what actually happened but, rather, how we felt it happened. A tendency that can be both beautiful and dangerous:

“This series specifically is how we gather information for a memory, intentionally or not. It’s how images, culture, advertising, belly aches, music, tacos, or bad smells can be the bricks. and the mortar is always emotion, imagination, and fear. I constructed these images as I would a recollection and rendered them with distance and arbitrary definition to make them feel familiar yet indiscernible, like memory.”

See more images from “Free Dirt” below.