Sasha Yakovleva

The Rocks Remember What He Cannot ll

This installation takes the form of a constructed excavation site, reflecting on my father's traumatic brain injury and the loss of his personal history. A rectangular wooden structure is filled with sand and rocks collected from my father's cottage at the Bruce Mine property, forming a space that suggests both a geological survey and a personal archive. The rocks are arranged as layered deposits rather than displayed as individual objects, emphasizing accumulation over narrative. Their surfaces carry traces of pressure, fracture, and formation, shaped over extended periods of time. Within this framework, the installation shifts attention away from memory as something held in the mind, and toward what is embedded in the land. The work presents material as a site where time is recorded and retained, even as human memory becomes fragmented or inaccessible.