I am an artist who creates bespoke works using pin badges on canvas. I call it Memory Pop as it is a stunning visual biography of an individual, extraordinary life.

A Memory Pop is composed of thousands of images of the moments, people and places beloved to you, from books to bars, food and films to childhood chocolate bars.

A Memory Pop is created through a series of conversations with me, either in person, over the telephone or via email.

I have 25 years experience as a journalist, a job that gave me the chance to talk to people and discover a little about their lives beyond their title. (It also gave me a back pocket full of anecdotes, including one involving a dogtooth jacket, Hugh Grant and the Hotel du Cap that my wife forbids me to tell any more, and another about Elton John my mum is keen on.)

Born in Edinburgh, I now live in south London. My own Memory Pop is a source of great joy and saved me in many ways. It brought me back to myself when I felt a little adrift. It also taught me a lesson useful for subsequent commissions:  Pin the badges with the really bad swear words at the top of the canvas, preferably above eye-level. It’s amazing how quickly the children find those.

 

You give them a visual floating biography of themselves.

For the last three years or so I’ve been creating bespoke art works for individuals based on my conversations and gentle interviews with them about their memories, interests and passions.

Whether it’s a piece of music or a book, a TV show or movie, or places and times re-visited in the mind, people enjoy sharing their stories.

The art works are made on canvas with pin badges representing memories, moments in time and favourite things.

The piece shown below features more than two and half thousand badges detailing, errr… me! My favourite bands, films and TV shows, as well as iconography, literature, art, places and sports are all represented and collated onto the canvas.

 

The works are intended to depict memories and spark conversations, bringing to life a personal history; they’re a visual, living biography of the person.

I have spent the best part of 25 years as a journalist interviewing people and talking personal favourites across all sorts of subjects.

The pieces help bring a private social history to life.

It’s a floating living biography of the person as the source of imagery and anecdote.

If you’d like to talk about commissioning your own Memory Pop for an individual, family or as a profile of your business, get in touch – I’d love to hear from you.

The size and number of badges impacts the time taken to create each work which in turn affects the cost.