AT first glance, there appears to be nothing unusual about Vicki Lloyd?s flat. But, closer inspection reveals an intriguing addition to the conventional set of rooms.
For the 32-year-old West Devon art student has completely stripped her bedroom of furniture, and replaced it with a single wooden chair, a couple of tables, a glass cabinet, five clocks and a plethora of empty vodka and wine bottles!
Vicki?s ?false memories? installation is her latest art project, forming part of her HND course at Plymouth College of Art and Design.
Lit by a single red light bulb and filled with the sound of ticking clocks, the highly atmospheric room is Vicki?s attempt to represent various aspects of a subject which interests her greatly: nostalgia.
?I wanted to create a room based on false memories,? she explained. ?I?ve always been interested in nostalgia, and the way the mind can change your perception of the past.
?You try to remember things, but your memories become distorted or altered. Some people try to cling on to their view of the past, even though the reality might have been very different to their memories of it.
?People are sometimes afraid to move on with their lives, because they can?t help looking back.?
The wallpaper in the room is extensively torn in several places, revealing what appears to be a layer of old wallpaper underneath. This apparently gives the viewer a glimpse into the lives of the house?s previous occupants, but as Vicki explained, it is all part of the illusion created by false memories.
?It looks like the room?s original wallpaper behind the torn paper, but I actually printed it myself,? she said. ?So, you think you?re seeing something that you?re not.
?It?s not real, which represents false memories.?
The theme of escapism is prevalent throughout the room. Alongside the solitary wooden chair is a small table supporting a half-empty bottle of vodka and a glass. Clearly visible through the bottle, on the back of the label, are words taken from Lewis Carroll?s Alice Through the Looking Glass.
And strewn haphazardly on the bare wooden floorboards are several dust-covered wine bottles.
Vicki explained the chair, which is positioned so it faces the torn wallpaper, represents someone stuck in the past.
The passage of time is captured by a glass cabinet containing several burning candles, some clocks and another passage from Alice Through the Looking Glass.
Resting on the cabinet, next to a clock and a depleted vodka bottle, is a 30-year-old photograph of Vicki as a baby with her family.
She said the installation, although time consuming, had been quite cheap to create.
?Everything in the room, like the tables, lamps, cabinet and the chair, I picked up from charity shops and markets,? she said. ?I used dust from a hoover bag to give the room a sense of age, and I made the shadow on the curtain using vegetable oil.
?So again, the shadow is not what it seems, which is an important theme in the room.?
Vicki, who has three children ? Olly, 14, Tyler, 13, and Haze, 6, ? decided to incorporate her art project into her home, when her tutors told her there was not enough room for it at college.
Having chosen her bedroom as the ideal setting, she moved everything out, including her bed which is now in the living room.
Her ambitious project will be assessed by tutors, who viewed it yesterday (Wednesday), and there will be a private viewing on Saturday for friends, colleagues and one or two artists Vicki has invited.
Her flat will be open for a public viewing on Monday.
The room can be viewed through a ground level window from the living room, or from inside the installation itself to absorb the full atmosphere.
?I?m a bit nervous about the assessment, but I think I?m more apprehensive about the private viewing and people?s reactions to the installation,? she said.
?I keep fiddling with bits of it, trying to get it perfect. It would be easy to allow it to become an obsession.?
Vicki showed early promise as an artist when she started painting with water colours during her childhood. She counts Christian Boltanski among her influences. She hopes to move to Brighton next year to study for a degree, after completing her HND.
Vicki has mixed feelings about tearing down her installation when it has been viewed and assessed.
?It?s always hard to part with any art work you are happy with, but I need the room back,? she said. ?This is the first installation I?ve ever done, and it?s been an amazing experience, but the problem is I can?t get away from it! I suppose it?s a picture of my thoughts and sub-conscious, but it serves absolutely no function.?
Vicki?s home at 21, Old Exeter Road, Tavistock will be open from 12 noon until 6pm on Monday, June 16, for anybody who would like to experience ?false memories?.