Project II: Forget | Remember
Vanora’s first project of 2021 introduces 10 new paintings from Zach Moll and 10 corresponding poems from Cameron Brooks. Like past projects, these works are guided by a pair of themes: Forget | Remember.
Guiding Themes
Forgetting and remembering are two of the basic building blocks of human experience. We live with them every day, both in trivial and monumental ways.
We forget a friend’s birthday or an answer to a question on a quiz; we forget why we invested so much time in career we no longer enjoy; we forget what it was like to be in our teens, twenties, thirties; we find peace once we have finally forgotten a painful past experience. A nation forgets the bonds that once held it together. Forgetting has consequences.
If we are constantly forgetting, though, we are constantly remembering as well—where we left our keys, or the notes of a musical scale. Sometimes we can only remember after concentrated effort. Other times we are passive in the experience: an old song suddenly evokes memories of childhood; you walk past a woman at the grocery store whose perfume reminds you of someone not present—your grandma, perhaps. Examples are endless. The longer we live, the more we have to remember, or forget.
Forgetting and remembering both point to the past and the future. Nostalgia and regret, hope and despair—the things we forget and remember constitute a significant part of who we are in the present and inform our experience of time itself.
A Poetic Window
From 2016-2018, I (Cameron) moved to Princeton, New Jersey, for graduate school. Between the demands of study and the constant allure (in spite of my studies) to explore the natural and cultural wonders of the east coast, I wrote little poetry during this time. When my wife and I moved back to our home in the Midwest, we slowly began to forget our short stay in Princeton, and the things we did remember were clouded in the inexactitudes of memory.
Many of the poems of this project are meditations on the concepts of forgetting and remembering. Many of them, however, are attempts to gather and re-member my experiences from those two years on the east coast. Some poems are attempts at both.
The Creative Process
Vanora plans to release 5 painting + poem pairings for “Forget” and 5 for “Remember.” Our process of pairing is unique this time, however. Having written over 20 poems for this project over the past several months, I have yet to see any of Zach’s paintings, and he has not read any of the poems.
For each release, Zach will send me a painting—also based on one of the two themes—and I will match it with the poem that fits it best in my mind. Our goal is to facilitate a more spontaneous and organic connection between the paintings and poetry, in hopes of discovering new dimensions of the art and deeper layers of meaning in our selected themes.
Forget | Remember pieces will go live here on our website (and on Instagram) every other Monday starting January 18. You can join us on Patreon for early access to all releases, as well as exclusive Vanora poems, paintings, designs, videos, and more. Many thanks for following along.