ARTMIX PRESENTS

YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE:

THE SEARCH FOR MEMORY AND IDENTITY

PAINTINGS BY MOLLY WOLFE

ARTIST STATEMENT

What happens to yourself when you cannot remember your past? Philosopher René Descartes once claimed, “I think, therefore, I am.” Descartes said the only certain thing in this world was since he thought, he was a thinking thing, and therefore he existed. Therefore, if you can think, you must exist. But if you exist, then who are you? Selfhood relies directly on your ability to remember. Your current self is simply the response to a collection of memories and experiences. If you cannot remember those core things, then how do you maintain a sense of self at all?

Over the past few years, I have felt very lost as an individual. Every week seems to bring another life-changing event to my doorstep. My days have been full of car wrecks, break-ups, and emergency room visits. I feel unable to keep up with the pace of life. By the time I begin to process one event, the next one sweeps me off track.

My memory has never been very solid, I always joke that my brain is on a two-year timer. If a memory is not absolutely critical to my survival, I will forget it within two years. While this makes rewatching movies an enjoyable experience, I often find myself worrying about who I am. With the rate of life over the past few years, I feel it has gotten even more challenging to keep track of my life and my memories.

In this struggle for clarity, I have come to see my art for what it is: a collection and categorization of memories. It is an effort to preserve the person I was, and the person I am, for the person I will be. I have turned my paintings into a catalog of my life events. Weaved into the patterns of my paintings, are little mementos and symbolic imagery.

As Descartes put it, I hope to move beyond a “thinking thing” to being a person with a stable and reliable identity. Through the repetition of making these paintings and remembering them, I hope to maintain my sense of self as time passes, even in this unsure world. So I ask again, what happens to you when you cannot remember your past?

At the end of the day, your guess is as good as mine.

www.mollywolfeart.com @_mollywolfe_