Toronto-based Artist Tonya Corkey has created a series of portraits made out of lint and other debris on canvas. She was inspired by the notion of memory and the reconstruction of one’s past. Lint as a medium connotes decay and loss over time. Lint is hence an apt medium used to explore the idea of fading memories and also the ability to preserve them. Corkey’s series, titled “See You In The Future”, consists of grayscale portraits of different characters (whose identity and relationship to the Artist is kept anonymous). Corkey explains her concept: ” My work hybridizes the discarded material of lint with the second hand image – the iconic school photograph – to conceptualize my interests. Materiality conceptually layers the work. As a byproduct of society, lint consists of fibers, hair, dead skin and other debris, and thus directly referencing people and their daily activity. Lint and cast off photographs are both discarded materials – materials that reflect the idea of a decaying memory. Our desire for memory in absence is triggered by sensations of smell and touch, a trait of my work.” Despite the monochrome, her work is filled with life and character that is captured even with the dullest of materials. 

Learn more about Tanya Corkey and her work here ! 

Images via The Jealous Curator