A Thousand Memories is a reflection piece on the space between presence and absence. I wanted to create a way where a single touch could bring the past back to life—while just as easily being able to let it go. A CRT television and a found picture frame come together utilizing capacitive touch to create an interaction between memory, presence, and the body. The frame holds a photo of my grandfather, the man that raised me, who was killed in a car accident when I was sixteen years old.

 

My goal was to capture and simulate that moment when seeing a single image floods you with memories—the sound of their voice, the way they laughed, the small things that made them who they were. But I also felt it was necessary to embody the reminder that no matter how much we want to hold on, eventually we’ll all have to let go... Even when we know it’s time, it doesn’t make it any easier to let the memories slip away back to the void, fading out as our world keeps going.

 

A Thousand Memories isn’t about creating a time capsule or preserving the past; it’s about that moment when you realize you can't. Knowing that no matter how much we try to hold on, eventually, we must take our hand away, and we must let go. Then as we do, the memory fades away, back into the static of our everyday life.