Tag Archives: memory

personal object still life

Glass Pig | Personal Object Still Life

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Glass Pig, Oil on wood panel. Image credit: Me
Glass Pig. Oil on wood panel close up. Image credit: Me

This is a still life of a miniature glass pig with a broken behind. Almost every year, my grandmother would give me pig-related gifts. Pig coins, pig figurines, pig paperweights and even pig gag-gifts. Why? She thinks pigs are adorable and it is also my Chinese zodiac. I find this yearly routine very sweet and amusing.

On my 10th birthday, she gave me 10 miniature glass pigs. They were handmade so each piglet had a distinctive look and colour. When playing with them one day, I accidentally dropped one and its curly tail broke off. At the time, I thought it was a great idea to put a band-aid on its butt (for the benefit of the injured pig and whoever handles him). This flesh coloured band-aid remains till this day.

Pigs are often associated with bad qualities like laziness and gluttony. However to me, pigs represent a joyful simplicity and contentment. These chubby creatures bring to mind my loving grandma, and her quirky yearly tradition.

Micro Project

Memory | Glitched Aberrations

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You sit still in the Christmas Eve of ’99, staring at me at my desk. As the years roll by, this photograph has faded along with my memory of you. I scanned in a digital copy in hopes of preservation, but that does not apply to the archive in our minds.

I’m afraid I’ll forget how you used to make porridge. I’m afraid I’ll forget the sound of your singing voice. I’m afraid I’ll forget all your sayings and quips which I laughed at growing up. Like the increasing distortion of these glitched images, everyday I forget a bit of you, and hold on dearly to photographs that can’t compare to the smell of your powder and nightly stout.