A Matter of Memory: Photography as Object in the Digital Age
This exhibition centers on the theme of “memory.” Although photography and drawing each have their own characteristics, both fundamentally narrate stories through images, and “memory” is deeply intertwined with my subject—hence my fascination. Following the Audio Tour provided online, I listened to several exhibiting artists respond to this question:Is your personal connection to digital images the same as it is to photographic prints? Curator Lisa Hostetler points out that when images remain confined to screens, they seem to “stay forever young,” yet fail to evoke the essential emotions tied to physical objects; meanwhile, seemingly “insignificant” snapshots are easily deleted with a click, further eroding the mechanisms that preserve memory—an issue common to all image-based art. By reinstating the materiality of photography, the exhibition encourages viewers to reconsider the subtle loss of memory and emotion behind the rapid consumption of digital images.
The contrast between digital and physical is striking: in everyday life, physical photographs are becoming rare and thus acquire the quality of “memorabilia,” while digital images’ reproducibility and immediacy expand accessibility but carry the hidden risk of oblivion. In this light, photography and printmaking share much in common—printmaking, with its limited editions and the nuanced variations of paper, naturally becomes a “vessel of remembrance.” Through the unique marks of carving tools and the slight differences of each impression, printmaking’s process embodies craftsmanship’s singular traces, making the act of reproduction itself an irreproducible artistic experience.