Traces of Memory

Traces of Memory is a series that explores the visible and invisible layers of individual and collective memory. Talin Gülen Schenk approaches memory not as a fixed narrative, but as an accumulation of traces that are layered over time concealed, fragmented, and resurfacing.

The series brings together various materials and techniques on canvas, including acrylic, spray paint, watercolor, writing, recycled newspaper paper, and plaster mesh. The grid-like structure of the plaster mesh represents the permeable boundary between the visible and the invisible; it both covers and partially reveals what remains behind it. Woven from fiberglass, this material also becomes a powerful metaphor for fragility, pain, and bodily memory.

The paper textures produced from recycled newspapers carry the transformation of information. The printed words dissolve and lose their readability, yet their traces continue to exist on the surface. This layered structure evokes knowledge that remains stored in memory, although it can no longer be clearly recalled.

Rather than directly representing memory, these works make visible its material traces, voids, and fragile surfaces.