I got so lost in this space, in the best way imaginable. Sacred Memory Bank is packed from pillar to pillar, with so much detail in every assemblage, offering endless things to look at.
It warrants another visit at some point, but Mike Badger and Jeff Young together give us an insight into their lives and personal experiences through collage, written text and perfectly selected everyday items.
An afternoon with The Sacred Memory Bank at Kirkby Gallery feels like wandering around something private. Visual representations of cherished memories, each one it’s own story, compartmentalised into containers, tins, boxes and jars. You get a snapshot of a time, or experience, or a life well lived, narrated to you with only a few important (yet everyday) objects.
Through this careful curation you find that the assemblages are more than just that, they’re a form of physical poetry, a love letter to a moment in time.
You may not see the connection between things. But essentially, it doesn’t matter, because these items are inextricably linked in a suspended animation, and the story is absolutely their own.
The bringing together of the items has a serendipity of its own. The items themselves, just as important as their placement. The natural juxtaposition of some pairings is curious in its own-right: the simplicity of a dried leaf resting on a dried paint tin lid; nutcrakers formed of legs and bums; all saying something, but never clearly what; ‘Assemblage is a form of alchemy’ written above familiar looking relics.
Bric-à-brac becomes part of a crucial story, part of someone’s ‘Momentary conjurings’ and takes on a new life as a significant key to unlock meaning. You get a sense of this having been a cathartic practice for the artists.
Tins with an aged patina on the outside or rustic wooden trinket boxes, pinned opened for inspection. Or a well-used wallet with its beloved contents exposed. Gazing on these feels intrusive, but it’s this element of interest and inquisition into the personal that give us introspection of our own sentimentality. Small jars of collected seeds struck a chord with me.
There are some recurring themes which pop up throughout and so tie all the pieces together.
You see items that mark the passing of time and our relationship to it, nostalgia encased in shadow boxes. It’s akin to moving into a new house and exploring the loft. You find remnants of the old inhabitants and piece together their story. Not unlike a time capsule emancipated from the earth.
I would always, heavily, advocate never throwing anything away and I’m always more than partial towards a keepsake: interesting stones (particularly ones that look like potatoes); every single shedded cat whisker or claw; discarded wild egg shells; seeds from a really good apple. This makes for excellent and interesting clutter. This exhibition is absolutely a bit of me. It’s validating in more than a few ways. And I would definitely have plenty of material primed for assemblage.
A quote used in the exhibition by Charles Simic “Somewhere in the city of New York there are four or five still-unknown objects that belong together. Once together they’ll make a work of art.”
Alongside the exhibition is a programme of bespoke workshops led by both artists. They explore the use of writing and assemblage to unlock memories held within objects. I’ll probably see you there.
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Sacred Memory Bank is open at Kirkby Gallery until Friday 27th March 2026. Find out more at www.cultureknowsley.co.uk
Words Kathryn Wainwright
