Memory Bank
(or: The Nakashima Kickflip)
A meditation on memory, life and death – what remains in substance once life has departed. Made from a slab of Elm salvaged from the Royal Botanical Gardens Melbourne that was blown over during a violent storm 15 years ago. The tree fell as it had become diseased which left it weakened and unable to face the storm. Traces of the tree’s life and the disease which killed it are etched in the spalted surface of the Elm (spalting is a unique dark colouration caused in timber by fungi and occurs in diseased or dead trees) . Memory Bank was crafted to hold a collection of objects, and evokes the traditional concept of a mantle as a place for display, where curios and collections of a life are kept, that allow us to trace memory and life through objects – often themselves from lives long departed.
The piece is assembled entirely without glue; the shelves are held in place by opposing wedges, oversized and referential of traditional eastern wedged tenon joinery. Only the central elm board is fixed to the wall via slotted keyholes. The live edge of the tree is retained as both memory of the life of the tree and as a nod to the work of George Nakashima. Each cantilevered maple shelf is tapered and shaped so that the bulk of material is concentrated at the point of most structural deflection, while the edges have been hand shaped to delicate thinness which belie their strength.
Salvaged Botanic Garden Elm, Rock Maple & Wenge
Photography / Northside Studio