Broken memories

“The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana” by Umberto Eco offers a thoughtful exploration of memory, and personal identity. Through the journey of Yambo I started to reflect on the significance of my own memories, and their role in shaping my identity. As the protagonist delves deeper into his past, he becomes aware of the gaps in his memories and this realization raises in him existential questions about the nature of personal identity. With Yambo we understand the idea that memories are not just a recollection of events but an integral part of one’s identity. Without them, we feel a sense of emptiness and fragmentation.

We, as human go through changes every day, we are not static beings, we evolve, and we are influenced by the external events that happened to us, we are shaped by what surrounds us. Over time, even minor, ordinary events can have an impact on who we are. A new activity, talent, or acquaintance, for instance, can all have an impact on our outlook on life and our personalities. We are complex creatures that are always changing and evolving.

We are shaped by the experiences we have and the ways in which we engage with the world around us.

But what if we lost all memories of our personal lives, as Yambo, we would then also forget our previous version of ourselves, we would forget how we became the person that we should be at that moment.

Reading this book made me reflect on memories and how much they affect every-day life, what if each one of us lost his memory suddenly, what could be the “signs” or objects that we would -almost- recognize? Why are these memories more printed in our memory than others?

And what if I lost all my memories, what could be the things that would feel familiar if looked at? Would I be able to recognize myself in the mirror, or pictures of myself as a baby? Would I remember my friends? Would seeing the eyes of my own father have some effect on me?

Starting from this reflection, I decided to create an installation that could represent these “Broken memories” of Yambo and the feeling of seeing something familiar but not understanding what is it.
The project is composed of two transparent jars with broken glasses inside, this is a way of representing the group of memories that “broke” and in which we can’t define single moments clearly.

In these jars you can see some pieces of objects, of course, just as the memories of Yambo, these pieces can give you an idea of what the whole object (memory) was but it’s not enough to tell you the whole story.
I decided to create two different jars for a specific reason: while thinking about the possibility of losing my memories, I noticed that I was doing a strong division between my childhood ones and the more recent. That’s why in the first jug I printed old photos of my childhood: the eyes of my mother, my little sister, one of my favourite poems that I discovered when I was 11 and that I still love. I begin to ask myself what could be the things that would bring me back to myself If I lost all of them.  For the second container I started to think about more recent events: my friends, my boyfriend and my now favourite poems.