Month: May 2023

Updated Enquiry:

What happens to memory after it is made? How can we be sure about what we remember? How can I investigate the process of memory recollection and recreation through sounds and image-making?

Project Proposal:

A 2012 Northwestern study by Donna Bridge investigating memory concluded that when you remember something, you do not recall the original event but what you remembered from your last recall of that memory. As we place our memories, we assimilate new information from our current context into the memory itself. This results in the form of memory contamination or the creation of false memories. My exploration investigates the process of memory recollection and recreation through image-making and audio/sound influence. First, using a photograph to recall memories and then using the memories to create photographs. What happens when we put this process in a loop, and how does this looping process reflect the way our brains recall memories?

Experiments:

This week, I experimented with a few different things.

1. I went to the Photographer’s Gallery and walked through the exhibits with headphones on. I was curious to see how the music or sounds affected my viewing of the photos and whether it changed my opinion of its concepts.

2. I used text from last week’s recordings as inputs for various text-to-image AI software. The intention was to recreate these audio memories into photographs to not only see if they resembled the original photograph but also if they reminded the subjects of their memories. 

MIDJOURNEY vs. DALL-E 2

3. Using image-to-sound software, I plugged some of the above images and turned them into sounds; some were musical, and some just static.

Throughout the last unit, I explored the role of liminal spaces between memory, place, and photography. I was interested in the contamination and alteration of memory and how I could express that tangibly. My research combined concepts of perception, identity, transition, domestic spaces, and image-making – through personal experiences and the concept of home. 

Towards the end, I questioned- for photography to truly serve the cause of memory, does it need to transcend the merely visual and engage other senses? And do I need to investigate the impact of multiple senses and other people’s memories for my memory to be truly contaminated? 

Initial Enquiries:

This past week, I have narrowed down to a couple of enquiries:

– How can we engage our sense of hearing through photography to experience the concept of identity and memories of home?
– How can I investigate the impact of sounds on the contamination and alteration of a photographic memory?

Experiments:

I conducted a memory experiment where I sent one of my photographs to a selection of people and asked them to send me a recording narrating a memory it sparked. Next, I sent them the same image but this time paired with a sound. Then, keeping both elements in mind, I asked them to send me another recording narrating a memory it reminded them of.

I wanted to see the impact the sound made on the photographic memory and how the audience’s perception of the image and the memory it sparked changed. It was intriguing to notice the differences between each person’s responses and their responses with and without the sound.