A Brief Meditation on Memory

Artist’s Statement

When I set out making this project I intended to photograph a few of my favorite places in the Evergreen forest, staging photos of different people in different places to convey my memories of that location. Early on in the process of recording and editing ambient tones from my guitar, I realized that my memories of this school haven’t truly set in yet. I wanted to clearly communicate memory through images, and I felt my original idea wouldn’t show that effectively. I went and took a walk around downtown Tacoma, photographing remnants of my street art. I put the artwork up February and March of last year, by now most of it has been torn down or painted over. Using 4 photos from last year I was able to create a still image contrast of the past and present to represent very personal and visual memories I have from my hometown. I open with a pantoum that I wrote about my fascination with stars, because some of my earliest memories are of the night sky. I also include my sonnet on restlessness, which speaks to the way memories flood through your mind at night. The first sequence of my video is more abstract. The images are produced in a program that allows me to control the size, color, and trajectory of particles, I thought this would capture the viewer’s attention and allow my poetry to be listened to without distraction.

Artist’s Bio

Trent is a graduate of Tacoma School of the Art’s songwriting and audio recording program, and has just concluded his first year at Evergreen. Trent has pursued several art forms over the last few years, experimenting with guitar, piano, splatter painting, graffiti, video, and photography. In the course Radical Amazement he has been revisiting his love of poetry, both the inspiration found in reading it and the habit of writing poems. Incorporating his experiences from audio recording, songwriting, street art, and poetry Trent has crafted this video essay on the everyday experience of memories.