Andreea Elle Vas: The Fabric of Memory

A photographer, writer, explorer and philosopher, Andreea was born in 70s Romania and made England her home in the early noughties. Andreea has a Masters in Photography from Falmouth University and a BSc in Philosophy from the University of Bucharest. Her creative practice explores questions of personal identity and memory especially through the lens of her dual cultural heritage. Andreea is also a photography tutor and runs a photography tour business with her photographer partner Matt.

Andreea’s most recent project The Fabric of Memory was produced during the final year of her MA studies and is being exhibited at the Horsebridge Art Centre in Whitstable in February 2023.

For this project Andreea traveled back to her native homeland in an attempt to rediscover and reconnect with her roots. Marcel Proust said ‘the past is hidden somewhere outside the realm, beyond the reach of intellect, in some material object’. Andreea’s visual story explores this notion, driven by place, and is a constant dialogue between past and present, familiarity and estrangement.  New images, all produced using old family film cameras and expired period film, are interspaced, and sometimes juxtaposed with family archive images and snippets of discursive memory in a visually coherent way. Andreea creates an atemporal space where there is deliberate ambiguity about what’s past and what’s present, and where empathetic connections are made with older family members as individuals, rather than in their familial roles.