“Nothing is more alive than the past; the present constantly reorganizes what nourishes it.” – T.S. Eliot
This book, currently in production, seeks to materialize the perpetual movement and fleeting, malleable nature of memory through photographic content that is created and erased by light. It is photophobic, meaning that the content of the pages fades with prolonged exposure to light, materializing not only the impermanence of memories but also how our memory can alter them over time. In this book of volatile photograms, images of the past are arranged in an intertextuality that stimulates the association of ideas and forms an open narrative. The black pages, on the other hand, present photos that come to life in augmented reality when scanned with a smartphone. Extrapolated by artificial intelligence, these animated images offer an alternative reading of memory, adding variable elements whose continuous mutation allows for a general but blurred impression of the latter.
“To live is to stubbornly complete a memory,” wrote René Char, quoted by Patrick Modiano in his work Livret de famille. By juxtaposing real and modified images, this project graphically explores the question of the reliability of our memory and how our mind can create stories to fill in the gaps.
The images, personal photos, are blurred by the artisanal and entirely biodegradable printing technique (recyclable, acid-free paper, printing by solar exposure without any chemicals). These intimate photographs, slightly distorted by the lack of adhesion of the positive matrix to the paper warped by the heat of the sun, aim to produce an appropriation of these nostalgic evocations by the viewer, referred to as the Barnum (or Forer) effect. Through this psychological phenomenon, individuals are led to accept vague and generic descriptions as specifically pertaining to them, thus creating the illusion of personal precision, even when these descriptions could apply to a large group. This effect explains why so many people can recognize themselves in horoscopes, tarot readings, or behavioral profiles that are, in reality, rather vague and general. Applied to images with nostalgic potential, the Barnum effect relies on the ability of these images to evoke universal feelings and to allow sensitive projection by the spectators, who interpret these images through the lens of their own experiences and emotions. The reader gets lost in an echo chamber between intimate memories and universal evocations.
“Tactility is an experience that is both physical and mental, of an inherently ambiguous nature.” Photophobe Memoirs translates this idea of Freek Lomme into a disjointed visual narrative, with evanescent materiality and malleable interpretation. Memories literally become traces, those of the absence and presence of the image, which continues to evolve materially, with the contrast continuously diminishing, all the more with each new reading that exposes it to light.
Opening this book to refresh a memory is to lose a little of it each time, consuming it as tangible and finite material.
Amandine Alessandra / Concept, design, photography, prototyping, printing
David Diaz Mendez / Graphic design, printing, production, prototyping, augmented reality
Samuel Chevalier / Augmented reality
David Diaz Mendez / Graphic design, printing, production, prototyping, augmented reality
Samuel Chevalier / Augmented reality
Références :
Eliot, T. S. (1978). The waste land and other poems. Faber and Faber.
Modiano, P. (n.d.). Romans. Gallimard.
Forer, B. R. (n.d.). The fallacy of personal validation: a classroom demonstration of gullibility. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 44(1), 118–123. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0059240
Lomme, F. (2018). Can you feel it? : Effectuating tactility and print in the contemporary. Onomatopee.