Fragments Archive - an update

Hannah Taylor’s Fragments Archive commission has been underway for several weeks. Her project explores how memory shapes our understanding of information and the disparity between oral histories and digital archives.

During the COVID-19 epidemic, those who are identified at risk of severe illness were sent an official government NHS letter which states that the safest course of action is; ‘To stay at home at all times and avoid all face-face contact for at least twelve weeks from today.’ 'Fragments' is a digital platform where high risk individuals respond to the letter that allows for “unconscious, spontaneous responses through personal association”.

Each memory is presented alongside a graphic representation through recontextualisation and detournement. New synthesis through reassembling of the original composition. | Graphics by C O R I N .

“Dawn Starmer is the third memory of the original letter, and now it's started to completely break down and hardly resemble the original information at all.” Explains Hannah.

“She also had a stair lift in the background which beeped every 5 seconds. She couldn't remember the date the letter was issued and felt like she had been in forever. At the date of filming she had been shielding for 74 days.”

You can see the other films here.