Place of My Song Dream Art Print

This art print is part of my Cultural Memory Series. The series explores the intersection of word and image and the amalgamation of personal and collective stories that become the cultural narratives that shape our selfhood and belonging. By embedding iconic text with original artwork, the project challenges the boundaries between public heritage and private memory, and functions as a cultural critique to how shared memories are controlled by legal authorities and borders.

The extracted text is from Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows (1908), which is in the public domain for most of the world. I have fond memories of pretending to be character from the story in elementary school for an assignment. While it was a challenge to find a suitable quote, I eventually found the perfect one. I paired it with direct symbolism from the book (willow and boat) for a romantic English countryside effect. Through the repetitious action of hand-lettering, the process of artistic creation becomes an act of sacred ritual, a reclamation of both my personal voice and my bond with the text’s original author.

By making the print available for purchase, the artwork further functions as a piece of economic activism, challenges capitalism and its institutionalised “hierarchy of value”.