“I thought I had forgotten about it…”, is a wooden table with some raster engraving done on its top surface that is made of oak veneered medium density fibreboard (MDF). The work grew out of a meeting with Mr. John Gibbs who spend his childhood near Battersea Park. He had experienced the effects of World War Two in his neighbourhood. From playing in the rubble of exploded buildings, to taking shelter when the bombs were falling, were some of the traumatic experiences he shared with the artist during a recorded conversation.

On the other hand, during the process of researching various archives, the artist came across incident reports at the Wandsworth Heritage Service at the Battersea Library in London. These documents were filled by wardens who recorded incidents as they happened. These reports are empty forms with various questions to record and accommodate foreseeable scenarios such as attacks, destruction, rescue operations, deaths and so on. They were designed with predetermined parameters and to maintain a sense of objectivity.

Mr. Gibbs childhood memories form the basis of the work, which takes shape of a wooden table, which is also a reference to the act of taking shelter under a table during the bombings, something Mr. Gibbs recalled vividly during his interview. His disturbing recollections were transcribed, and permanently engraved on wood. These engravings are inspired by the various templates of actual incident reports, where the existing text of these reports is replaced by Mr. Gibbs words. Arranged alongside the table are actual incident reports loaned by the Wandsworth Heritage Service.

There is perceptible confrontation between objective documentation of the archival reports and Mr. Gibbs emotional and subjective psychological memory. The work juxtaposes official documentation of events with personal recollections of an individual, where the authenticity of both narratives is open for discussion. The artwork also questions the complexities of recording history and what might be lost or forgotten or made up, during the process of being subjective and objective.

“I thought I had forgotten about it…”, was developed during Baptist Coelho’s Artist-in-Residence, supported by and at the Delfina Foundation, London, 2011-12. The residency was also supported by Creative India Foundation, Hyderabad; Pump House Gallery, London. In 2012, the artwork was first exhibited as part of the artist’s two-person solo exhibition, Social States at Pump House Gallery, London. The exhibition was curated by George Unsworth.