Fabricated memories

Memory is so fluid and can be so inconsistent...it is a blurry version of the truth, and often times is not truth at all. I have found that I have fabricated childhood memories of times growing up with good friends, when in fact, I didn't meet them until later in my life...I forget who said what in arguments, I have things I believe to be true about myself (or others) that were lies I told when I was young. It is so interesting to me that we base so much of what we know to be TRUE on memory - something that is not truth (and something that changes and that often time we lose). Our identity is reliant on memory as well - how we remember growing up, how we make decisions and live our lives based on what we remember about decisions and results/consequences in the past. Even perceptions of intelligence are based on how much a person can remember...

from Louise Bourgeois' "Ode à l’Oubli" (Ode to Forgetfulness), 2004

Louise Bourgeious created (or "fabricated"...haha) a fabric book full of prints and sewn images and text and called it "Ode à l’Oubli" (Ode to Forgetfulness). The image above is of one of the pages of the book, and I think it is really beautiful and truthful in its honesty. This is usually something that people (at least adults) don't want to admit - that they are losing or fabricating false memory. The book is filled with images of patterns and shapes - it almost reminds me of flash cards or one of those memory games you find online - something to teach you or remind you about something you lost or forgot.

If you want to see a slide show of all of the pages of the book, click here: http://peterblumgallery.com/editions/louise-bourgeois/ode-l-oubli