School of Art Newsletter Fall 07 vol. 2 issue 1

NOW: Nick DuPlessis

For the past year, Nick DuPlessis, a senior BFA student in Photography, has been working with fragmentation and collage to explore the various concepts of memory. His work investigates how the brain processes and combines received information. It also explores synthetic or false memories, which occur when there is failure within the memory recall system of the brain. “I am intrigued and confused by the concept of memory”, DuPlessis states, “I…wonder if the events actually occurred the way that my mind tells me, or [if] perhaps I am creating memories based on what I think happened”.

DuPlessis works with a combination of photographic and video elements to create imagery that further explores this investigation. DuPlessis reasons that video suggests a more accurate and detailed record of events therefore, the combination of photographic and video elements, “creates a tension between actual memories and synthetic memories. Through the use of many photographs and the appearance of video, the imagery combines the process of encoding and storing the visual information of an experience with the process of retrieving that information.”

Work from these concepts was shown in the American University of Dubai Group Exhibition as well as the Curious Montage Group Exhibition at the Shane House Gallery in Tucson. DuPlessis has been the recipient of the Spirit of Discovery Scholarship and The University of Arizona Achievement Award from 2003-07 and was awarded this year’s Samuel Kingan Scholarship.