Lost Present

Basia (Barbara) Toth

Summary
Final work

My practice progressed from fine art-based media towards illustration, visual communication, and editorial-style work due to my interest in dissecting a topic through thorough research, so it can be visually expressed without the overcomplicating nature of words. If I use text, I like an allegorical and metaphorical approach.

A favourite topic to illustrate is human relationships and associated narrative with autobiographical objects, within that, visualising nostalgia through sentimentality evoked by tactile objects.

My major project in progress is the continuation of the theme because it investigates the link between the distant home and the natural human response of wanting to return to it in the present through physical material.

I use combined methods of both digital and analogue media including lino and woodcut print, and mark-making methods, such as drawing with handmade tools.

My practice progressed from fine art-based media towards illustration, visual communication, and ...

CollegeCamberwell College of Arts
CourseMA Illustration
Graduation year2024

In this ongoing project, I'm exploring cultural identity through sensory memory within the diaspora and their cultural concerns such as the feeling of displacement. For the foreigner, creating familiarity within a new living environment is a vital emotional reminder of a faraway home. The living space in which one may practice individual customs and rituals is often limited. So how does one preserve a sense of cultural belonging and establish familiarity within the home? A great method is through organic ingredients and dishes, shared or enjoyed alone. By sprinkling cultural ingredients into our dishes, and lives, we keep the taste of culture and home alive.

This project pays homage and celebrates old customs that never truly died within us. It takes a familiar shape and feeling through smells, tastes, and textures of heart-warming dishes and consumable ingredients. I gave it the title 'Lost present' referring to a strong memory evoked in the present through sensory experience (sense, touch, smell, or hearing). It's a vivid yet fleeting moment of the past that comforts us in the present.