Mother Drawn from my Memory

Synopsis

The year 2016 marked was the twentieth anniversary of my mother's death. I decided to make an animation of her by repeatedly drawing her from memory using no photographic, film or other forms of reference. I thought if I drew her enough times the sum of all the pictures would create the essence of her. As I worked on the project it became obvious that the images appearing depicted her at different times in her life and often as a much younger woman than when I'd seen her last. I also realised that I was not sure if I was remembering her from life or from photographs I may have seen over the years. The result is a film that is as much about forgetting as remembering.

Biography and Films

Katy Shepherd (Bournemouth, UK, 1961) studied painting at Sheffield Polytechnic and did an MA at the Royal College of Art in 1991. She soon grasped the potential of working digitally and taught herself how to create short films by manipulating her old family photographs to bring them to life and relive memories. Her animations have been exhibited or screened in many galleries and venues across the UK.