Sharons current body of work explores the intersection of memory, narrative and identity, using a treasure trove of orphaned photographs as a starting point.

She received a gift of 5000 photographs of family members dating from 1880-1970. No one can identify the people in the photographs, so they resonate with loss and grieving, evoking the memory loss suffered by dementia patients.

Sharon has created imagined narratives, names and characters for each one. This series of mixed media paintings is created using these photos and other found materials to explore themes of reclaiming joy in the midst of memory and loss.

Short bio

Sharon Hayes is an American mixed media artist. Her work incorporates a variety of materials including collage, oil paint, and encaustic and water media. She has exhibited her work at the Provincetown Art Association Museum, the Cape Cod Museum of Art, Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, A Gallery in Provincetown and at Yankee Ingenuity in Chatham. In a past life, she has tended vineyards, herded kittens, talked to plants, married a hoarder, been a monk, jumped out of a plane, lived in a shack, a yurt and a barn, tended bar, hitchhiked to California and never looked back. She currently lives and works on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.