Anika Schneider

Lives and works in Minneapolis, MN, USA

Artist statement

I paint as an exploration of memory. I grew up in a shifting world. I can remember my half Asian family being the least white family in elementary school and the most white family in middle school. I remember being sent home from school on 9/11. I remember my mom announcing her pregnancy with my brother on her first cell phone. I am constantly sifting through these memories still trying to make sense of my place in them and my family’s place in our world. I fall asleep by revisiting memories. Every time I bring an old memory up to the surface, I am in fact weaving a blanket of memories of memories. My painting is closely linked to photography and photography’s place in the family. In order to validate, trigger, and reframe my memories, I have been going through old family snapshots. The pictures provide me narrow glimpses into the past that I fit into the larger narrative of my personal history. I try to remember the snapshot’s context, but, what may seem like a clear memory at first, blurs and fragments the harder I concentrate. As I paint, I choose to allow some elements to rise to the surface and push other elements back. I use shifting levels of clarity in order to reflect the instability of memory. When painting, I am actively engaged with both memory and narrative. In the act of making, I am creating new associations and I am searching for details buried in memories. I actively try to construct narratives in my paintings that are not captured in the photographs, but...

Artwork