I was inspired by the ability of sound, particularly the sound of spoken language, to serve as a record of my childhood and Greek-American identity. Growing up in a Greek-American family, I was taught many Greek words and short phrases by my parents. My learning never progressed beyond the age of ten, so the words that I can speak are remembered from my childhood. I have a very loose grasp on the Greek language because I do not have an extensive vocabulary. With the limited words I do know, I do not know how to spell them using Greek characters. To me, these words exist only as sounds produced by speaking.
I have become increasingly reliant on digital means to preserve memory. Shown below is my Google Translate history. Every word I speak into Google Translate is saved and filed in my digital memory bank.
This digital animation is based off of a childhood story of the artist and her father driving to a local 7-Eleven and leaving with a unique surprise. The story is retold through fragments that the artist remembers of the event.
In this animation, the artist has combined hand-drawn and digital animation, using archival footage as reference. This piece is inspired by footage found by the artist of when she and her family moved out of the home she grew up in.