MEMORY PORTRAIT
Electroencephalography . EEG instrumen . Family Album .
photo series . 2012
One day, I stumbled upon a collection of old photographs from my childhood, but I couldn't recall when or where I had taken these photos. This prompted me to delve deeper into the notion of memory and what constitutes a portrait of memory, and how to capture and record the essence of memory. It was this inquiry that sparked my visual contemplation of the theme of "memory," and led me to explore ways to create works on this theme through photography and portraiture.
In pursuit of this idea, I underwent electroencephalography (EEG) at a hospital where my mother worked. While recalling the old childhood photographs, the EEG recorded the frequency of brainwave activity related to memory. The waveform of stronger memories appeared more distinctly, while the waveform of weaker memories was fainter.
I then converted the original old photos into this collection of memory portraits by utilizing the varying frequencies, resulting in images with clear details for strong memories and blurred details for weak ones. Through the use of EEG, I not only incorporated the theme of "memory" into photography, but also further explored the essence of photography as a means of image recording. Photography is not only capable of capturing the external form of things, but also our internal emotions, memories, and thought processes. This process itself is, in fact, the very essence of this work.
As I reflected on the nature of photography, I realized that it is not only a medium for recording reality but also a means of capturing the essence of things. The camera lens is like a time machine, capturing the fleeting moments that may otherwise be lost in time. In this way, photography becomes a tool to transcend time and space and to preserve memories that would otherwise be lost.
As the son of a doctor and a physics teacher, I was fortunate enough to have their assistance in undergoing EEG and converting the original photos into memory portraits. The exploration of "memory portraits" is a gratifying experience in and of itself - the memories that form with the accompaniment of one's parents, fade with time and growth, and are then "rediscovered" with the help of parents again, providing a sense of comfort and solace for one's inner emotions.
In pursuit of this idea, I underwent electroencephalography (EEG) at a hospital where my mother worked. While recalling the old childhood photographs, the EEG recorded the frequency of brainwave activity related to memory. The waveform of stronger memories appeared more distinctly, while the waveform of weaker memories was fainter.
I then converted the original old photos into this collection of memory portraits by utilizing the varying frequencies, resulting in images with clear details for strong memories and blurred details for weak ones. Through the use of EEG, I not only incorporated the theme of "memory" into photography, but also further explored the essence of photography as a means of image recording. Photography is not only capable of capturing the external form of things, but also our internal emotions, memories, and thought processes. This process itself is, in fact, the very essence of this work.
As I reflected on the nature of photography, I realized that it is not only a medium for recording reality but also a means of capturing the essence of things. The camera lens is like a time machine, capturing the fleeting moments that may otherwise be lost in time. In this way, photography becomes a tool to transcend time and space and to preserve memories that would otherwise be lost.
As the son of a doctor and a physics teacher, I was fortunate enough to have their assistance in undergoing EEG and converting the original photos into memory portraits. The exploration of "memory portraits" is a gratifying experience in and of itself - the memories that form with the accompaniment of one's parents, fade with time and growth, and are then "rediscovered" with the help of parents again, providing a sense of comfort and solace for one's inner emotions.