Painting as Translation: Negotiating Memory and Representation
I find excitement in abstracting childhood images and memories. The act of transforming a canvas until its contents are unrecognizable creates a connection between the personal and the emotional responses inflicted by different memories.The photographs in this body of work, which span various stages of my father’s life, were once deeply personal to him, yet remain unknowable to me. They represent moments that are both familiar and distant, held together only by dysfunctional conversations and his drunken recollections. I enjoy the unknown–while not knowing much about my father’s past in these photos; they speak to what is factual and what I cannot yet comprehend. These images serve not just as a mode of autobiography, but as a way to capture the “still moment” they represent. By layering specific moments with grand washes of color, I engage in a process of both penance and forgiveness. Painting these photographs grants me satisfaction after a complicated upbringing- allowing me to uncover the tenderness in those memories. I’m constantly nurturing the parts of my life where I felt human, and those where I felt less so.
Bio
John Hall, born in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, now lives in Biddeford, Maine, and studies at the Maine College of Art and Design. Graduating in May 2025 with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Painting, he explores memory through figurative abstract oil painting. His large-scale works reflect autobiographical content and are supported by awards including the Albert K. Murray Educational Fund Scholarship, the Bob Crewe Foundation Scholarship, and the Stephen and Palmina Pace Endowed Scholarship. He believes the physicality of painting and the scale of his work are essential to processing the personal themes that drive his practice.
