Title: Drawn from memory: reminiscing, narrative and the visual image

Authors: Terence Wright

Addresses: School of Art and Design, University of Ulster, York Street, Belfast BT15 1ED, UK

Abstract: A brief review of Marcel Proust|s views on art, photography and memory, as expressed in his A la recherche du temps perdu (1913-1927), sets the scene for a discussion of the value of photographs for reminiscing in the context of computer-based visual narratives. The paper examines three video interviews produced by the author for interactive flexible narrative programmes: |NM2: new media for a new millennium| (Wright, 2007) and |The Drogheda Viaduct| a Fusion Irish cross-border digital media project. The clips demonstrate different approaches to reminiscing including personal reminiscences, social memory and a diachronic method of relating the past. The discussion considers how personal memory relates to cultural memory, how the |objects of memory| can be drawn upon and how they are recounted. Thus, the function of photographic-based images as memory aids, or as stimuli for reminiscing, is placed in the context of the narratives that can be constructed around the image.

Keywords: interactive documentaries; Proust; personal memory; cultural memory; photography; computer-based visual narratives; photo-elicitation; Interactive Village; Czech Republic; reminiscing; visual images; reminiscence; interactive flexible narrative; personal reminiscences; social memory; diachronic method; memory aids.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCIH.2010.037459

International Journal of Computers in Healthcare, 2010 Vol.1 No.2, pp.144 - 160

Published online: 13 Dec 2010 *

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