Exercise 3.3 recreating a childhood memory
For this jaunt down memory Lane, we had to take an image, recreating a childhood memory. After some trial and error with self absented portraiture using a child to stand in for me, followed by some images that spark some nostalgia, I decided to include myself in the image. As this section is all about self portraiture, I thought it best to include myself as an adult, standing in for the childhood me. I still wanted to create images that were, at their best, capable of freezing the concept of a specific time.
This was taken when I was trying to decide whether to take a self portrait or get someone to represent me as a child.
After creating a mind map of things that reminded me of childhood nostalgia, I chose the subject of Comic books, more specifically comic book shop setting. I used to love comic books as a child, the perfect escapism for a young boy, before the age of computer games. It used to be a rare treat to get the bus into town with my pocket money and peruse the comics at the comic book store. Even when I didn’t have any money, it was still great to look for the next edition, or look at the Star Wars and other figures they had for sale.
A treasure trove
My older brother had a great impact on what I liked when I was growing up. Him being six years older, his tastes always seemed more grown up than mine, I was forever stealing his stuff or wanting to read the same comics, watch the same movies and listen to the same music. Our local comic book store was called Purple Haze, it boasted a modest collection of comics and memorabilia, but was all we knew. It was nothing like the great comic book store that I took this photo in, for the recreation, which was astounding! It bought back all the memories of searching for the limited editions, back in the day.
The best comic ever written
As we covered in this module, Gillian Wearings work “Masks” is an extreme way of recreating memories.
Gillian Wearings Mask
Another artist taking nostalgia photography to the next level is Thomas Friedrich Schaefer. His collection Experiential Spaces, is a series of photos that are inspired by fragments of his childhood memories of growing up. At the same time, he wants to stimulate the viewers to bring out their own childhood memories too.
“The family home is often defined by the things we associate with it,” says Schaefer in his artist’s statement. “These entities exist as both objects in their own right and reference points upon which we frame our memories. Recalling these places and the things evoke the experience of nostalgia.” Schaefer uses his background in architecture and fine art to recreate his memories in elaborate sets created in his garage, some taking up to 400 hours to recreate.
I showed the photos of the day to my brother, which included a framed front cover, of our favourite ever edition of 2000AD. This sparked some nostalgic conversation which is exactly the effect I wanted. I wanted the images to still be contemporary and relevant because when you’re recreating a memory you want them to speak to the viewer about a shared condition, a state of mind, an inner feeling. A recognisable feeling. They ignite the human subconscious need for nostalgia. The comfort of nostalgia. The safety of nostalgia.
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