Survey
Introduction
As a PhD candidate in Photography both my research and art practice are investigating how the photographs we collect in our ‘family albums’ or ‘personal collections’ work, not only in recording our life experiences and triggering memories of them, but also in defining who we are as individuals and how we feel about ourselves. The content of our ‘family albums’ may differ between sexes, age groups and cultures; these differences may also affect the type of memories evoked by these photographs.
What we recall from a photograph links us with our past. Although we generally photograph happy moments in our lives, our photographs have the capacity to stimulate both happy and sad memories. Photographs are akin to a diary, in which the details of our life experiences are stored; our memory is the key that unlocks the images, revealing our past, which we can then choose to share with others.
Our lives are often defined by the photographs in our collection. I am interested in the imprint that photographs leave on our memory, and how these imprints evoke recollections of past times, that may otherwise be lost.
Thank you for your support in this very important research.
Jenny Carter-White BVA, BPhoto (Hons), PhD Candidate
This study has received ethical clearance from Griffith University (GU Ref No: QCA/10/07/HREC).