Memories

Memories Eduardo Gutierrez

Gretchin O’Donald

Luíç Caixote

Maya Pillai

Samuel Andrade

OCAD-CA

LMU-UK

UFMG-BR

NID-IN

UFMG-BR

B

ackground: The possibility of remembering things, to have a past, is what gives us a future.

Without memories we wouldn’t be able to imagine and build a future in our minds. Without memories, we will live forever in the present. Memories make us who we are. They give a sense of individuality, and help us put ourselves in perspective. Their influence in our lives is so strong that sometimes they can stop us for doing things, make us afraid of the new, and even affect our perception of reality.

The Project: After establishing our 5-persons group, we decided to play a little game to get to know each other better. Now we know that Maya’s favourite band is the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and that Gretchin’s best friend is Andy Buclaw. Luis told us that he writes short stories as a hobby, while Eduardo hates to cook. We know five things about Samuel, including that he prefers his bed messy than tidy.

But those simple facts are not enough to create an emotional link with a new friend. We needed memories.

So we decided to share a personal story, an event that has happened in the past, together with an image to illustrate that event. We collected five memories.

The next step was to mess around with those memories.

Make an appropriation of that story and construct a new one. We were allow to intervene, intrude and participate somehow in that event; add new details, expanded it, make it our own, get it imprinted with our own language and style. Or simply be inspired by it to deliver new images.

Each one of us came up with a series of photographs that, at the end, can be seen as responses, new memories, or a visual dialogue. Or perhaps they are projections of the past, and that is a better description of our work.

Initial idea: It’s ironic that the more society gets obsessed with knowing the truth, the more we are able to create other realities. Internet is a place where the borders between fake, real, virtual and imaginary can be erased. Having this in mind, the participants will take photographs of places, people or situations, and pretend that those images are part of a larger story between us. We can elaborate, for instance, a love story, or a family relationship, and construct a past to it. We can also add anecdotes and facts that support all of it. We don’t need to lie necessarily, since the value of the photographs are that they will be part of our very real fantasies and dreams, and attached to our daily reality.

JAKE (by Eduardo) We took Jake to Cherry Beach on his last night in Toronto, three years ago. My friend was leaving for good, going back to his home in Germany, to his job and his life, and we all thought we were ready to say good-bye.

Cherry Beach was warm and full of fun people, as usual in summer, and the party went on and on until the next morning. As some point we sat down, tired and drunk, and suddenly Jake said: “I give you this moment, this sky, this water, this night. And also the fire.” Just for a couple of minutes the usually tough guy disappeared. Or maybe that’s what we remember.

Response (by Maya)

I love snow! (by Gretchin) In the UK it snows about once a year. My birthday is in December. When you blow out birthday candles you make a wish. Mine was always that it would snow before the new year. Snow makes people happy and I meet a lot of new people each year by having snow ball fights and making snow men. My favourite time in the snow was a few years ago. I lived in London. I was supposed to be working, but everything had been closed because of the snow. I started building a snow man and people joined in. By nightfall I had made friends with around 20 new people and we all went to see Jeffery and Jack Lewis play a gig at The Betsy Trotwood pub.

Response (by Luíç) I live in a region of Brazil where does not snows. I was curious as to how it would leave the house in winter, playing with friends in the snow or make a snowman. To end my curiosity I invited some friends I met in books and magazines and we ventured (improvised) in the refrigerator.

It was fun.

O povo de Curato de Macaúba (by Luíç) I saw him walking calmly in half of those people. He watched things very carefully. I felt he was a good man. I tried to start a conversation by asking him for hours. He changed his attitude and with an air of superior, looked at me from above. He was silent for a long time, when he opened her mouth just told me: “I do not have time to tell you what time it is. I’m too late!”

He was silent, turned around and continued his way. With the same tranquility as he arrived, he was gone dissolving in the middle of other people.

Response (by Eduardo) I went to the city hall in Toronto. Every night, in winter, they have these lights and music, and fireworks. I saw a man, took some pictures of him, and then followed him.

It was easy at first, but then he left the park and when down to a main street. It was busy and people where looking at me taking pictures of this man. I didn’t want him to see me so I didn’t follow him that close. I followed him until I lost him.

Response (by Eduardo) I went to the city hall in Toronto. Every night, in winter, they have these lights and music, and fireworks. I saw a man, took some pictures of him, and then followed him.

It was easy at first, but then he left the park and when down to a main street. It was busy and people where looking at me taking pictures of this man. I didn’t want him to see me so I didn’t follow him that close. I followed him until I lost him.

Re-response (by Luíç) The man turned the corner. He wanted to once again go unnoticed. I also turned the corner and I followed him as he tried to dissolve in the light.

Sky (by Maya) We looked up at the sky; it was the perfect weather to head into the forest. Ouija Board in hand, the 5 of us took deep breaths and jumped over the rickety fence into the darkness. We found a little corner, lit some candles, held each other’s hands and started calling the unknown.

None of us were sure if spirits existed, but we tried nonetheless. A good 10 minutes passed and nothing had happened. Suddenly the planchette started to move over the alphabets, we opened our eyes in disbelief. A chill ran down our spines, it was like we all had the same thought in our heads, we scrambled to our feet and ran as far as our feet could take us, over the fence, towards my front door. We vowed never to try this again.

Response (by Samuel) I also made photos for the story of Maya. My idea was to show variations of the ouija board and other practices related to ghosts, spirits and supernatural beings.

Sky (by Maya) We looked up at the sky; it was the perfect weather to head into the forest. Ouija Board in hand, the 5 of us took deep breaths and jumped over the rickety fence into the darkness. We found a little corner, lit some candles, held each other’s hands and started calling the unknown.

None of us were sure if spirits existed, but we tried nonetheless. A good 10 minutes passed and nothing had happened. Suddenly the planchette started to move over the alphabets, we opened our eyes in disbelief. A chill ran down our spines, it was like we all had the same thought in our heads, we scrambled to our feet and ran as far as our feet could take us, over the fence, towards my front door. We vowed never to try this again.

Response (by Luíç)

Turists are terrorist (by Samuel) At that Lisbon street oppositions are indistinct. The region is more or less rich, more or less poor, more or less new, more or less old. Maybe that’s why I was surprised.

Me: the first word I said was “why?”, the last ones are these I say now. Presumably, the next one can only return to that first question. Since I did not understand if I was a boy, a girl, white, black, whore .. and even if a whore, still a damsel. But I was a tourist, of course.

Response (by Gretchin) It’s dark in there, and, even though it is a public road, it has a feel of having been claimed. There were always graffiti artists in the tunnel. It wasn’t uncomfortable to be there.. but it did feel like you were walking through their house. They knew if you were one of them or not. When I walked through usually I wasn’t one of them. When I was there with my camera, I was.

Collective Body Corpo Coletivo | 2011 Project Projeto | Memories Memórias Eduardo Gutierrez OCAD-CA | Gretchin O’Donald LMU-UK | Luíç Caixote UFMG-BR | Maya Pillai NID-IN | Samuel Andrade UFMG-BR