Laura Mae: Possessions, Memories, and Meaning
PERCY: How does your project relate to the theme of identity?
LAURA MAE: This piece was initially inspired by the young swans that live in the canal by the restaurant I work at. What particularly inspired me were the flashes of white wings piercing through the young grey fluffy feathers. This sparked the idea of “changing feathers”, the transition of growing into an adult. My artwork is often personal so I wanted to explore this idea within my own life/experiences. This painting features myself and a selection of kitchen/homeware crockery that I own and have bought in an effort to build my future.
Below are a few of Laura Mae’s early concept sketches for her contribution towards Issue 3.
PERCY: What do you hope your audience will take away from this piece?
LAURA MAE: I'm often quite introspective within my work, exploring my own identity and life experiences. I use myself as a reference and model, additionally taking informal photos of the objects around me to use within my artworks. I can only hope that displaying my own experiences will allow my artwork to personally connect with my audience, whether they can relate or not.
PERCY: You’ve mentioned your interest in how objects and personal possessions can shape our identities. What are your earliest memories with objects that have had a lasting impact on your sense of self?
LAURA MAE: Before I was born - or when I was very young - my dad collected a small amount of Beanie Babies. I remember finding his box of them [as a child] and I think the idea of collecting things, especially plush toys, stuck with me. Only recently has it manifested within myself where I collect Jellycat plushies. It brings me happiness to also be connected with my father in that way. He had some American and German themed bears which reflect both my nationalities, and I just loved that he chose bears which were not just random but ones that had personal meaning.
Similarly, when I was born my mom had a Pikachu plush with her in the hospital. It only makes sense seeing as it was quite popular in the early 2000s and it only grew to be more popular. I used to collect the cards while I was in primary school and I remember begging to be taken to the shops to get more trading card packs. I then got into the video game, which probably is what got me into gaming in the first place. This nostalgia feeds into my interests today as I still have that first Pikachu plush along with 4 other newer Pokémon plushies.
I find it hard to explain, but as an adult I have found connecting to my younger self and indulging in the things I have loved my whole life as comforting and healing.
You could say that being a Pokémon fan or a plush toy collector as part of my identity is as materialistic it might seem. These possessions and media have deep routes within my childhood and my relationships with loved ones.
PERCY: Neurodivergence has played a key role in your relationship with objects, and you’ve mentioned that your obsession with collections is something you’d like to explore further. How do you think this perspective on objects and collections deepens the theme of identity in your art?
LAURA MAE: Building off my last answer, I feel strongly that the things we collect/buy/accumulate throughout our lives can often be representations of memories or events that are important to us. I think that we also gravitate towards things that “speak to us”, things that are relatable and that we subconsciously choose to represent us. I started thinking about this idea more after my father passed away in 2021 and my mom and I were left with a collection of his possessions. For a while as we grieved we kept his “man cave” intact in memory of him. We got out more photos and things that were his or reminded us of him and displayed them in that room. It served as an important way for us to remember him, the man he was to us, through his possessions. This is what informed “what remains”, a painting I made previously, which was a really important exploration of identity, material culture and grief for me. The work I am making now also encapsulates the person I am at this moment in time.
PERCY: What excites you the most about contributing to a project that prioritizes intersectional art and community? Do you find your own work influenced or expanded by the other artists in this cohort?
LAURA MAE: Community is so important and it's been so wonderful to meet and work with so many more artists, especially since there's a variety of countries and cultures represented. I am so excited to see how we all tackle the theme differently. It's also exciting and important that Club Rambutan is so dedicated to the uplifting and showcasing of voices who aren’t often heard. It's been amazing to talk with artists from this cohort and ones within the Club Rambutan team.
You can see Laura Mae’s full final project by purchasing 03: The Identity Issue.
