‘Family Album of Sarah Roesink’, MA project, 2008
Although we share the same past, we do not have the same memories of events. You might have no memory of me while I have a vivid image of our past in my mind. You might remember the weather on my 6th birthday, while I remember the doll I got from you and the chocolate pralines from my grandmother. In your memory I am a stranger, in my memory you are the person full of exciting stories from faraway countries. Our memories sometimes meet, sometimes cross and on other occasions it seems as though we never met.
The project was set out as an investigation into the memory of childhood. I collected a selection of photographs from my family album and sent and identical set of images to both of my parents, who live separated since I was very young.
I asked them to write down a memory to each of the images, while I did the same, working on the same set of images.
Seeing the three memories come together, it gave me a new perspective on my childhood, to some extend revealing, on the other hand underlining what I already knew. The images and memories were then put together as a slide show with an audio track.
Besides looking at memory, I photographed objects in my parents homes that either dated back to the time they lived together or reflect their personality. These photographs were then put together in book format, one accompanied by an extract of the ‘Philosophy of Freedom’ by Rudolf Steiner, the other by my own words. A third book consists of a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke and letters from my parents, these are illustrated by images referring to the various pieces of writing.