Tammy's Reaction Essay 1

I believe it is said that we use only 10% or less of our brains. How much of that is memories? Perhaps 99%? Memory is a funny thing. We all seem to want to remember everything that goes on in our lives yet why do we need most of what has happened to us.

I found Zeke Berman’s Gate very expressive of what I feel like my memories are like. It seems very sketchy with lots of empty black space. Having a neurological issue due to migraines I lost part of my memory several years back and have never regained it. Do I miss it? Yes for some things, such as memories of raising my children. Are there things I would like not to remember (or in my case…be told about)? You Bet!

I know that our memories are for the most part just stories that we tell ourselves or that others tell us. If you ask two people to describe an event from their past they both will tell you some variations of that event. Kim Zorn Caputo hits the nail right on the head when she says, “Memory is the force behind making art—the drive not to forget.” With my photos of the past I am able to find some of my own stories according to the subjects. I can see that I am trying to capture all the people in my life so that I will always have them. I know part of this has come from losing my parents when I was in my very early twenties some twenty years have passed since then. Without art…my photos I would have lost all of their last years.

I also was drawn to John Baldessari’s, The Lamp Series. I find myself looking for what is missing to be very engaging. I not only want to know what he took out but what can I put in that space. I can imagine that I see that there was perhaps a person along the left of the photo and then a desk and even a typewriter on that desk to the right. But this is what I want to see as I don’t really know what was there. But that is what I think art is…a chance to dream for all of us.