Memory is the internal preservation of the past,
but it is also what sheds light on the present
and gives meaning to possible futures.
El tramvia groc (The Yellow Tram). Joan F. Mira
The evocative power of images has been widely studied. Through them, forgotten memories and stories, which are part of both individual and collective memory, can be verbalized and even reclaimed from oblivion. In this sense, the photographic image is an effective tool for promoting historical discourse and preserving personal memory.
Additionally, viewing an image can stimulate the viewer’s ability to generate concepts and thoughts just as abstract as those evoked by written language. Our memories are not organized linearly, but they converge at a single point thanks to certain stimuli.
Therefore, from a single photograph, we can create a narrative time parallel to our memories, which initially remain isolated like photographic moments. These moments then trigger a series of connections, allowing us to develop a more extensive narrative. We can start from one instant and recreate an entire process composed of new moments that, when connected, enable us to navigate through memory. Thus, photography stimulates the evocation of a much broader process of recollection.
Photograph by David Hockney
Photography is not just a medium for images; it is also a medium for memory. Its strength and appeal lie in its ability to suspend time and concentrate space in a single moment.
The image encourages the evocation of personal memories, connecting them with the present, and stimulates the expression of past experiences. It also enhances self-recognition, strengthening and consolidating one’s identity. In this sense, individual identity can be understood as an experience shaped by the collective identity of the place one inhabits.
Inmaculada Salinas Project
Photography is also a key element in collective memory; it transcends individual interests and becomes remnants of the past, serving as visual records of a shared history. We can speak of a collective visual memory that belongs to all citizens and is grounded in shared experiences or common spaces.
We can highlight three aspects of photography as memory:
- The image plays a role in the intellectual process of recognizing, contemplating, and reflecting on the environment, its objects, and the events that took place there.
- 2. The connection to emotions becomes more tangible through the image, as memory and its meaning are often anchored to an object.
- The image highlights what deserves to be seen and recognized but also signifies absence, representing what is no longer or has ceased to exist.
Bleda y Rosa
There are many explanations for the connection between photography and human memory. Some are rooted in perception theories, psychological studies, neurological research, or even those explored by contemporary photography, such as visual metaphors —the same used in literature and cinema—demonstrating that the photographic image serves memory functions.
As the theory of perception suggests, remembering is the act of recognizing images in the broadest sense. When viewing an intimate photograph, personal and tied to one’s life journey, a process begins of connecting it with many other images that collectively shape that memory. Under this interpretation, we must consider that our mind records vast amounts of information in the form of images. As such, images play an essential role in activating memory, enabling us to recognize what we already know.
Finally, if photographs are considered an essential component of individual memory, they can also serve as a catalyst for collective memory. This potential of photography reveals and demonstrates possibilities we already know but have not yet fully explored. Photography not only preserves memory but also can recreate it through a narrative.
The image is now considered the bearer, communicator, and reinforcer of group identities. Its contents are ideologically influenced and subjective reproductions that serve as a form of communication for a specific human group.
Photograph by Eduardo Nave
For example, images of physical spaces, individually and intimately selected with childhood and youth memories in mind, are a unique and valuable resource for evoking collective memory, knowledge, and a sense of belonging for future generations.
If we create an evocative, personal, intimate image and pair it with the historical, anecdotal, and vital narrative it evokes, that individual image transforms into the collective memory of an entire community, serving as a source of inspiration and belonging for future generations.
Additionally, image-based narratives serve both an emotional and expressive function simultaneously. Although the contents of the narrative are subjective interpretations, for the person being interviewed, they represent their “truth.” This truth is also understood and internalized at the group level, making the narrative an “objective truth” shaped by other stories. The stories constructed by an individual are simultaneously part of the broader narratives of the social system in which they are embedded. On the one hand, it is possible to identify an individual story; on the other hand, when this story becomes part of a group, it integrates into a network or fabric of information that contributes to the group’s memory and identity.
Photograph by Cristina García Rodero
Photographers, I propose a research project framed within a photography series paired with text. Some sources and technical references within contemporary photography now recognize this approach as a form of social research, such as the work of Sophie Calle, Gillian Wearing, Bleda y Rosa, and other contemporary artists.
A lack of knowledge about historical processes leads to a lack of understanding of our present, resulting in a disconnected and non-participatory society. It is essential to shed visual and textual light on the stories of our immediate ancestors—our parents and grandparents. The history of the future must be built upon understanding who we were and where we came from. You only truly possess the present; there is a sense of belonging to a community and social cohesion only when you understand its history.
Many objects evoke memory: an old armchair, a repainted poster in a grocery store, a winding clock, a porcelain doll, a blackboard…, and, of course, Proust’s Madeleine. The more an object is endowed with character and personal significance, the more it stirs memory and imposes itself.
Gándara, 2012
If you’re interested in this topic, continue reading Collections for Memory.
