This suite of monoprints is based on personal memories collected during interviews with older Americans (over the age of 70). Interview participants were asked for their personal associations – what they remember, what they were doing, what was going on in their lives – in relation to four major historical events: WWII, the assassination of JFK, the Apollo 11 moon landing, and the events of September 11th.
The term “prosthetic memory” comes from Alison Landsberg’s research culminating in her 2004 book, Prosthetic Memory: The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture, which examines how historical events and cultural memory are assimilated as personal experience through exposure to the technologies of mass culture. I realized through this project that these are also assimilated through simple oral culture, in this case through one-on-one sharing, during the interviews I conducted and the images I made. Through this process, both the historical events and the personal experiences of the people I interviewed have become my own prosthetic memories.
Read the catalog essay by Jessica Baran here.
Prosthetic Memory, JFK: Titanium Limousine
Prosthetic Memory, WWll: Bomber Yellow
Prosthetic Memory, WWll: Apple Parts
Prosthetic Memory, Apollo 11: Gold Star Landing
Prosthetic Memory, JFK: Mahogany Rush
Prosthetic Memory, 9/11: Goose Drive
Prosthetic Memory, WW II: Wonder Letter
Prosthetic Memory, WW II: Polio Rat
Prosthetic Memory, JFK: Iron Measles
Prosthetic Memory, 9/11: Emergency Silhouette
Prosthetic Memory, JFK: Pink Knoll
Prosthetic Memory, JFK: Radio Pigs
Prosthetic Memory, WWll: Mount Censored
Prosthetic Memory, Apollo 11: Rathskellar Leap
Prosthetic Memory, WWll: Token Munitions
