WHAT should York remember? A question that has been asked thousands of times this year by archivists from the revamped Explore Library. And you might be surprised at some of the answers. Forget the Minster, Treasurers House and Museum Gardens, for one woman it was fireworks above Clifford's Tower, while a five year old's most important York memory is the magical view from her playground slide. How about lights in the water at Millennium Bridge?

Matter of fact anecdotes such as these have been collected during archive roadshows as part of the Heritage Lottery Funded: York - Gateway to History project. Now they have been handed to York artist Emily Harvey, to produce an installation inspired by the things that matter to us most.

York Press:

Emily Harvey with her template 

"Another thing I want to show is people doing things now as they did 1,000 years ago, drinking, dancing and listening to music," says Emily. "History is all around us but we are living history as it's always been lived."

The piece is full of texture too. You see the overall picture when you stand back, but come close and you can explore and feel little details about the city.

York Press:

And with York being contained within its bar walls, it made perfect sense to Emily that her installation should its own wall to envelop the city's memories, with 'mortar' between the blocks containing musings people have said on the roadshows.

York Press:

York Press:

Walls have ears, some say. For Emily they have faces; an idea that came about during her research, when she took a number of photos and discovered 'eyes' peeking out at her from the frame.

"Some were intentional carvings, others just marks that jumped out at me as faces," she says. "So I decided to incorporate them in the design."

 

York Press:

With the heads – and a few chocolate bars strewn around for good measure, this is York after all – Emily's wall feels a bit like a game of hide and seek, containing the minutiae of collected recollections within a bigger picture.

York Press:

Emily has also used the archives themselves for inspiration, such as Medieval manuscripts with beautiful florid page edging that she has replicated in her own border. Leaves and the occasional snail add whimsical touches.

York Press:

"I think it's really interesting to find new ways of looking at the archive and blow the dust off them in a different way," she says. "It's been a really fun project and I've loved having the archivists to bounce ideas off."

One of them is Sarah Tester who has also learned much from the collaboration.

"This is the first time we have worked with an artist," she says. "It's taught us to look at the archive in a different way; at its colours and images rather than just asking what does this document say. It's a totally different way of using archives."

The installation will go on display in November to mark the end of the York: Gateway to History project as a snapshot of what was collected and how the archivists collaborated with communities.

"This is just as much about the present and future as the past," says Sarah. "When the piece is completed it will have the date put on it because this is what York thinks now. Tourists see the Viking and Roman aspect, but this is what residents feel and value about their own city."

That said Sarah has noted a number of curiosities. For example Willows nightclub has suddenly figured in the answers because news of its closure spurred fond, but forgotten memories.

How many other thoughts were made or lost in the same way? Perhaps that's the whole point.

"I hope people will recognise some of their own life in York and be able to relate to it," says Emily. "Hopefully they'll want to come back and see new things each time."