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Portraits from memory

by Tyson Botello

Objects of memory, such as photographs, give body and substance to the past, rendering it tangible and seemingly fixed. Yet photos can exist in tension with the inner lives they claim to preserve, flattening subjects into a single enduring portrait. Portraits from Memory is an autobiographical series pairing photographs with poetry, forming polyptychs that move between image and voice. The photographs maintain a coherent surface, while the accompanying texts introduce an inner dialogue, creating a tension between what is shown and what is experienced.

Canvases

memories draw upon me
as I pour into them;
effaced, I am rendered
palimpsest
one portrait
breathing life
into the next:
a study, in canvases,
to be misunderstood
and understood
anew

- Tyson Botello