SPACE B
PLASTIC MEMORIES
JOHN SYME
A photograph, especially an old family photograph that contains familiar elements such as people and places, contains indexical links to a moment past by way of its represented picture and discretely by its existence as an object that was created at a time relative to the recorded moment. The photo-object then becomes meaningful not just for the picture it depicts, but for the vitality that time and physical circumstance has imbued on it since it was first created. In light of this the photograph can be seen as being in the world as much as it represents the world. And, with that, comes the revelation that a photograph that is worthwhile viewing is also worthwhile photographing. These images are the artist’s response to the experience of found photographs, past scenes made present. The image of our memory is not endlessly repeated; it is recreated anew.
