From Memories to Monuments: The Artist as Translator

This article focuses specifically on the digital video installation ‘Monument 1 – Well, I never..?’ which explores the inter-relationship between private memory and public space. Offering an emotional archaeology of public space, the aim of the installation is to create a sense of belonging through such sharing of private memory. Sites of private emotional significance are recorded, interpreted and mapped for public presentation. The objectives of the project were to explore the language of the short film, and determine the form’s capacity to translate effectively aural memory while encouraging a shared sense of subjective history and belonging. The article asks how private memory can be manifested by various formats of short films and, in turn, relate to the construction of a collective memory. Developing a critical framework of artist as translator, this article offers an analysis of the creative translational processes involved in such audio visual interpretation of aural stories.