Nicole Young | I Was There, I Forget The Rest

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“Nicole Young in her studio,” 2023

(photo by Lana Amani Chebib)

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 13th from noon to 4 pm.

THIS Gallery will host I Was There, I Forget The Rest, a new solo exhibition by talented Vancouver artist, Nicole Young.

Each piece in the series documents a place that's significant to the artist; somewhere they've lived, somewhere they've visited, the homes away from home and the places that no longer feel like home. In revisiting each of these places, the artist is compelled to investigate which depictions feel accurate, which ones could be imagination, and which ones are likely based on false memories. The abstract nature of the work allows the viewer to ascribe their own memory to the pieces, adding another layer of inaccuracy. The exhibition examines how memory shifts based on the way our feelings change over time, and whether or not anyone can be an accurate narrator, even of their own lives.

“The gathering of materials and production of pigments is of equal importance to the creation of the final work itself. In making this work I am demonstrating the value of working with the land, and creating art within a circular economy”, says Young. “I find textiles to be so closely tied to memory, and seeing specific fabrics always makes me think of someone I've known, or a place I've been, and what it signifies will always call to different memories from myself to the viewer.”

The title of the exhibition is inspired by a Tumblr quote “We were together - I forget the rest,” which has been misremembered, and misattributed to Walt Whitman. Whitman’s actual quote is “Day by day and night by night we were together,—All else has long been forgotten by me;"

“Nicole Young’s work is at the intersection of craft and fine art,” said THIS Gallery Director Shannon Pawliw. “The quilt-like sewn structures are very nostalgic and carry that sentimentality, yet somehow, the work is very fresh and modern.”