Memento On-Longing Exercise

1: "The souvenir speaks to a context of origin through a language of longing."

This is a picture of my best friend and me in our Sophomore year of high school; this was our homecoming picture that year. Ever since I moved away from Washington state in 2020, I have missed her more than anything. I long for our late nights of laughing too much, getting into trouble, and driving in her 1994 Volvo with no destination. When I was with her, nothing mattered.

2: "The souvenir exists as a sample of the now-distant experience that only the object can evoke." 

This is a picture I took in the summer of 2017 in Maine. My Nana had passed away that February, and we were spreading her ashes in the ocean at her favorite point and lighthouse. She always said that she wanted her ashes to be put inside a carved-out watermelon with sprinklers sticking out of the top and to be floated down a river. However, we could not find a convenient river, so we went to her favorite point. We put her ashes in a carved-out watermelon with sprinklers sticking out; we also put her twin sister's ashes in the watermelon as well. When we put the watermelon in the water, it immediately sank. When it hit the rocks below the water, the watermelon burst open, and she and her twin sister's ashes floated to the top. The ashes had dried rose petals mixed in with them; we all laughed and thought she would laugh at the beautiful failure too.

3: "The place of origin must remain unavailable in order for desire to be generated." 

I took a picture of Lake Tahoe while spending my summer in California. My family and I moved to Florida two years ago. They decided they did not like Florida, so they wanted to move back to California, where we lived when I was very young. I have wanted to be with them since they moved to California. However, I am in Florida.

4: "Nostalgia cannot be sustained without loss."

This is a picture of me and my old dog, Sophie. I was probably in 5th grade in this photo. My family and I never stayed in one house for more than a year, and no, we are not a military family. My parents would get bored fairly quickly, and the best way to cure boredom was to move, or so my parents thought. The house in which this picture was taken is still in my family; it is now one of three of my grandparent's homes. So, I say it is the house I grew up in. But, of course, I didn't have a place that I grew up in because we moved ten+ times while we were in Washington from 2010 to 2020. I am nostalgic about Christmastime in that house since it is where I have enjoyed Christmas many times. The house is not lost, but the childhood enchantment of Christmas has faded.

5: "The souvenir reduces the public, the monumental, and the three dimensional into the miniature, that which can be enveloped by the body." 

This is a picture of my Grandfather and me. I remember being completely enamored by the little porcelain miniatures my grandparent's collected when I was little. Mini dogs, cats, birds, and anything else I could imagine. They also collected miniature instruments, which I thought could actually play like real instruments at the time, and I was disappointed each time I tried to play them.