Stretching Time / Warping Memories

Mildy influenced by Life Is Strange (a game about a time travelling photography student) and its later-game warped graphics and spooky Twin Peaks/Silent Hill vibe, I decided to mess with some of my photos in an attempt to basically warp all the moments in time.

I have always been so into narratives involving disturbances in reality, the metamorphosis of visual and visceral experience opening up an eerie mysticism or jarring break in what makes sense. Like when Eileen's big head pops up in Silent Hill 4. I love that big head. And the classic photographic face-blackening seen in films like The Ring.

I've also been thinking a lot about memory and childhood in recent months, and in particular how as much as I remember something, it's not like reliving it. It's not photographic. There's a darkness around the edges. Like dreams. And I guess that's why sometimes you're not sure if you're recalling a memory or a dream. So photographs become important as a precise record of a moment. A fraction of time captured in a way that your brain can't achieve. So it's no wonder that screwed up and messed with photos are a horror movie staple. We rely on them to hold truths we can't keep in our heads, so when something is off it can be scary.

I love the concept, so I decided to drag some of my photos along with the scanner light to mess with my memories. I've definitely wished before that I could change time, or travel in time, for a hundred different reasons, but something about this makes me feel at peace. Visually melting these memories reminds me of the malleability of the psyche, or something. I guess people are like ripples. And you can't stop a ripple.

I also did the same with a page of my old photo collage comic from 2012: Moon Goddess. Mostly because it was there in the place where I keep my photos, but also because it was its own kind of record.