Keith Harder: Dereliction of Memory

"Anson", digital print, 20" x 30", 2009

Harder says of this series: The Dereliction of Memory is a reference to the slow dissolve of forgetting, an action that can be either therapeutic or tragic. Forgiveness and forgetting go together, but to lose memories can also be a loss of identity and humanity. These images offer a cautionary tale. They portray artifacts that have lost their original function along with great chunks of their being. They have been subjected to the contingencies of need, and of time, and of entropy. But in their fragmentary state they still can be an anchor for the ghosts of stories looking for a home.

These are images of aircraft relics that landmark a specific and pivotal moment of history. But it would be a mistake to see these works of art as only memorializing that particular history. They can also be signs or place-holders for other histories, ones that might be either individual or collective. 

View Dereliction of Memory from Thursday, October 24th until Saturday, November 30th, 2013 at the Visual Arts Alberta Gallery. Join us for an opening reception on Thursday, October 24th from 7-9:30 pm. The gallery is open from Wed-Fri, 10-4pm and Sat, 12-4pm. We will be closed on Saturday, November 9th.