Objects and Memory.
- Kieran Collins
- Nov 1, 2021
- 1 min read
What do we really value when it comes to the possessions of deceased loved one? What differences in value and meaning exist between relics that are objects- a chair, ring, or piece of clothing
“Objects we keep so that they will remind us of a particular time, place, or situation we wish to remember. Built so as to make people remember, monuments and memorials further exem-plify the interrelation of memory and materiality. ” (Munteán, Plate and Smelik, 2017,p.1)
“It is a material reality, moreover, that has become infused with an aura of ‘realness’ where perception is no longer a question of ‘seeing is believing’, but rather ‘touching is believing’. This shift in focus, from the performance of memory to its materiality” (Munteán, Plate and Smelik, 2017,p.4)
“Most of us live with traces of the dead in the form of furniture and other objects that have always been there or have recently entered our lives and households.” (Gibson, 2008,p.1)
“I am naming these ‘objects of the dead’ because they were once personal and household belonging of the living, now deceased.” (Gibson, 2008,p.2)
“The withdrawal of the dying from the world and their emotional disinvestment from material possessions.yet for those who outlive a loved one, the objects that remain are significant memory traces and offer a point of connection with the absent body of the deceased.” (Gibson, 2008,p.2)
‘If memory is a performance of the past in the present, it is essential to account for the material’ (Munteán, Plate and Smelik, 2017,p.4)
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