Forgotten Names

Artist Statement - Forgotten Names

My son Koashal moved out of home last year. The grief I felt was enormous.

I made huge amounts pf work, as an outpouring of guilt and regret that life was not more "perfect",

that there were aspects of life I had no control over; to heal or make better.

My mother told me stories from when she was young;

a woman living in her street had twins with Downs Syndrome,

they were locked in the car all way as a way of coping.

Another woman with five children was told to give her youngest away by her husband,

her youngest was also Downs Syndrome.

If she didn't, he would leave her and she would be left feeding the lot, with no welfare.

I often wonder what happened to these children. I have spent hours searching long lists of asylum records

in case one of my ancestors had not been remembered or recorded. A child like mine.

What happened to these children? What happened to the adults with mental health issues or disabilities?

There seems to be very little recorded if any. Their burials and deaths are almost impossible to find.

I wonder what it's like to be forgotten.

I worked in an institution when I was quite young.

Some of these pictures are about those I remember in detail.

Most had no contact with family.

Some of these pictures are of people I have found in records, whose families I cannot find.