Capturing life in little windows is a comfort… makes memories more tangible, as if tiny, white frames could somehow encapsulate memory without any of the details spilling out.
My aphantasia, which is an inability to mentally visualize; image-free thinking, has cemented in me a need to capture, document, and archive in an effort to prevent forgetting.
Always, I am trying to tether beauty / moments / conversations / ideas back to myself somehow. Knit them into my very fibers. Loop them around my waist, 4 strands thick, and secure them with a row of knots so they can’t be teased apart again. Seeking solidified forms that permit me to keep, revisit, conjure, remember, and reminisce… beyond words alone.
I tote polaroid cameras, pen list poems, tuck mementos into pockets, record excerpts of history onto my phone, and art journal—all tactics to prevent memories from slipping through the cracks or fading at the edges where deeper meanings become lost (at least on the surface). Because whether or not I’m able to picture things in my mind, I know that what I experience does impact me and resides (for better or worse) in the thoughts I think and decisions I make and how I make them. But the truth of knowing that has never felt like enough.
I’m a visual artist, and it’s the visual aspects of things that hold my attention most rapt—keep them from fading into obscurity. When colors shift in hue beneath a shadow, textures draw depth and perspective out of the smallest object, nature’s geometry draws otherworldly patterns into ecosystems, and facial expressions or body language emote beyond any language. These are the things that inspire, perplex, frustrate, compel, intrigue, transport, and help me imagine.
A life of keep-saking is a promise I make to myself to hold things close and let them change me.
-Kimberly Kuniko
Dream & Scheme Co-Working Sessions (Fridays, 10-11:30am PT)
Creativity Keepers Sessions (2nd + 4th Tuesdays, 6-7pm PT)
Hand-Stitched Mixed Media Collage
Nellita’s Craft, Little Tokyo, DTLA
Sat., 6/20-, 11am-1pm PT
Guided Creative Retreat: Micro-Makes
Sat., June 30 • 6-8pm
Hosted live on Zoom
Justice Sunbird Sticker Fundraiser // Raising funds for the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), a nonprofit organization providing aide in Palestine + support to Palestinian refugees. @unrwausa unrwausa.org
@jewishvoiceforpeace // jewishvoicesforpeace.org // Jews organizing toward Palestinian liberation and Judaism beyond Zionism
Ways to support Palestinian creatives, artists, writers, and companies + orgs with actions we can take
© Kimberly Kuniko
let’s connect // lacelit.com | @lacelit | creativity club + retreats | dream & scheme community for small business owners
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