2025 Libris Awards at Artspace Mackay - Keeping Hold 

Keeping Hold explores memory through remediation of street detritus: an old desk and drawers, reclaimed and transformed into a wooden box. Inside the box, housed within paper folds, are slides that archive fragments of forgotten street remains. Partial remnants of dust and tactile imprints are preserved in resin, capturing the haptic traces of time and interaction. These fragments offer a glimpse of a larger, vanished whole, reflected in thenegative space and absent forms within the work.

Tactile engagement is central, inviting interaction with the slides, lid handle, and box as a whole. These surfaces preserve tactile traces of past interactions, forming a physical record of haptic experiences, enabling personal recollection. Processes of casting, pressure, and transfer preserve these traces, creating a tangible archive of lost objects and experiences.

Drawing on theories of haptic sight and mimesis, Keeping Hold emphasises embodied knowledge within individual and collective memory. The absence of complete forms prompts viewers to contemplate what is missing, engaging them in the subjective act of memory construction. Absence is created through the removal of colour, opacity, and form, inviting viewers to reconstruct meaning from what remains. Keeping Hold invites reflection on memory through touch, absence, and preserved traces of forgotten objects.