Michael Martin
Collected Childhood
My Body of Work explores my toy collection as an archive of childhood, memory and play. Through handwritten lists, I count, catalogue, organise and classify objects, transforming a collection into a record of time, attachment and identity. Across sculptural assemblage, printmaking, photography and stop animation, I rearrange toys to reveal how objects can carry emotional histories. By shifting between documentation and reinvention, I examine the impulse to preserve, order and revisit childhood. The vibrant colours, repeated forms and varied media invite viewers to recognise their memories of collecting and playing, while considering how possessions become containers for experience.