My name is Masao Podalko, my friends call me Mp, and in March 2016, my Grandmother of Russian decent was diagnosed with dementia. I was by her side until the final days of her life.
I took care for her as my Mother and Father were no longer around , and I began to note down the quiet mumblings of her manic ways.She was at one stage in her life very intelligent and I thought in some way that writing the things down she said might help in some way in the future, maybe hope? Besides there were quite unique and procise, and also gave me some joy to mostly mundane and repeatable daily life with her. It turned out that her words were more often facts than not after my curiosity set in, and after seeking medical advice, it became known that they were hidden deep with here conscience and that her form of dementia encouraged her to speak her mind . This note taking became a form of therapy for me and after her passing, after almost one year of care I continued to do so to this day. Public library's, Newspapers ,over heard conversations could never truly replace my Grandmothers wisdom, but it always made me smile and think of her when I noted something new. Creating artworks from the notes came a lot later. Almost 4 years.
As I and many others where left thinking what to do when the terrible global events happened in 2020 , I sought out things to do, mostly cleaning. I came across several diaries full of these facts. some of which I recalled writing but mostly I didn't. This to me was fascinating. Especially when I came across an old photo tucked away inside the pages, this was instantly memorable, I can even recall it now, and it was not even that interesting. It was a picture of me sitting fishing by a lake. I can recall when and where and how many fish Id caught that day, none. In February 2021 I became a member of "The file-designers" (TFD) a group of creatives who's number grows by one every month. I am #345. Thanks to a very close friend , also a member of TFD who has helped not only encourage me to make the art work I do but to give me confidence to exhibit it too.
He helped me find my voice and understand some of the things that I took for granted the making my creative choices. A good example of this is the new sat down to discuss why I used only two colour, something that side never really thought of. I now explain it as that the colours (black orange) help me represent, what could be seen as right and wrong, fact fiction, truth or lie. some what metaphorically connected to learning calligraphy but not exactly. They are two twos both used together but to categories two different things ( right and wrong) Its been a long journey in such a short space of time, one that I am enjoying more and more everyday.I would like to some my work up like this: I now compare my work to reading “last years diary” or finding an “unsent” letter. You can never quite recall writting the words, however you know that they came from your hand. There is familiarity there, but still an uncertainty and a doubt of disbelief. To explore the methods of documenting fact and fiction, with aims to focus on the exploitation of the confusion of when and where the two both meet. |