Senior Thesis Show 2025

Plastic is hard and synthetic, by design it will outlive us and our memories. Within a world that is becoming increasingly digital, plastic and physical objects become an even more potent symbol for our nostalgia. Through the five works that encompass Plastic Nostalgia, I present junk, toys, and memorabilia as sites of memory. My paintings present the objects juxtaposed with memory; two realms, a foreground and a background that exist separately from one another. The memory is faded, and monochromatic. The memory is an impression of the experience. We remember just a glimpse, the glimmer of a streetlight while walking home during one of those pivotal moments in our lives. Objects lend themselves to reflect on these intangible experiences. They are like and unlike memory– they are tangible objects, but memories are not. Toys are tied symbolically to memory, but they have a permanence that contradicts memory’s fleeting and ephemeral nature. They act as an imperfect record of moments that are gone.