Palimpsest
/ˈpalɪm(p)sɛst/2023-Ongoing
Project developed during the “Return 2 Ithaca residency”
noun
a manuscript or piece of writing material on which later writing has been superimposed on effaced earlier writing.
something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form.
In Homer's "Odyssey," Penelope employs a cyclical weaving process to manipulate time. She defers her suitors by perpetually constructing and deconstructing a shroud for her father-in-law, weaving by day and unweaving by night. This act of creation and destruction serves as the inspiration for this series. Digital photographs capturing the island of Ithaca undergo a similar process of construction and deconstruction. Initially captured, the images are then deleted, only to be retrieved through data recovery software. However, this retrieval process is imperfect, resulting in a degradation of the original data and introducing a layer of distortion and data loss. A further layer of manipulation occurs by embedding fragments of text from the "Odyssey" within the image files, further corrupting them. This act creates a physical link between the ancient narrative and the contemporary visual representation of Ithaca, intentionally corrupting the digital data to forge a new connection. This cyclical process of creation, deletion, and imperfect recovery becomes a ritual that echoes Penelope's weaving and deconstructs traditional notions of memory, representation, and the impermanence of digital content.
The last step of this project involves weaving these corrupted images into a physical tapestry. This transformation from the ephemeral digital realm into a tangible object symbolizes the convergence of ancient storytelling traditions with contemporary digital practices.
