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My exhibition consists of a reconceptualized installation of my childhood bedroom, as I remember it as an adult. Intended to evoke a relationship between the viewer and my space of pre-adolescent reflection, the “room” includes a nightstand featuring books from my childhood library and a framed picture of my parents beside a twin-size bed. The piece, a blanket handwoven with stuffed animals, polyester filling, children’s clothing, and a baby blanket is laid across the bed, with an accompanying fiber sculpture emerging from the bottom right corner of the bed. The sculpture, created with large mounds of polyester filling and the stuffed animals from which the poly-fill came, materializes from the weaving, flooding onto the floor. The contrast between the weaving and disruptive sculpture is meant to aid in the viewers' understanding of my process, presenting my memories, both woven together and still floating around in my cloud of consciousness.

Childhood Amnesia

Emma Goodman

Stuffed Animals, Children's Clothing, Baby Blankets, Polyester Stuffing, Wool and Acrylic Yarn, 2022

Undergraduate
Childhood Amnesia invites you into my re-imagined childhood bedroom, featuring bedsheets, wall color, books, and artwork from my youth. Within this installation, a handwoven blanket, composed of stuffed animals—some recycled, and some of my own—as well as children's clothing and baby blankets, is splayed out on top of the twin-sized bed. Troubled by blocks in my memory from ages three to ten and unable to revisit key moments, I began experimenting with mediums from my youth such as finger paints, crayons, and markers in an attempt to connect with my past self. I then began creating with fiber, and throughout the contemplative process of weaving with materials from childhood, memories from my past came flooding back to me as I entered a state of pre-adolescent reflection. A physical manifestation of my memories and thoughts is presented as a fiber sculpture composed of stuffed animal scraps and the polyester stuffing found within the stuffed animals. This sculpture contextualizes my process of making, allowing for a direct connection between the viewer and my process of physical deconstruction to result in memory reconstruction. My intent with this installation is to provide viewers with a feeling of nostalgia; I ask the viewer to follow along with my journey of recollection, urging them to confront blocks within their memories.