The Unfolding of Time and Memory

Science

“... it is impossible to imagine or conceive a connecting link between the before and after without an element of memory and, consequently, of consciousness”-- Henri Bergson writing in 1922, quote from Bergson (2014, pg. 254).

The transition of time is represented in the brain’s neural circuits and a series of mental “time stamps” are generated as a memory forms.  This process enables the brain to organise events in chronological order (India et al, 2011). Humans therefore recognize that time in memory presents itself as past and present events. In a more intriguing fashion, false pasts can also be created by the brain, where memories are altered to make sense of what has happened. These brain processes aid with imagining the future (Hammond, 2019).

This work explores time and memory, the sense of self, and how we locate ourselves within this space.

Inda, M. C., Muravieva, E. V., & Alberini, C. M. (2011). Memory retrieval and the passage of time: from reconsolidation and strengthening to extinction. The Journal of neuroscience: the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 31(5), 1635–1643. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4736-10.2011

Hammond, C., (2019). What we get wrong about time. BBC Future: BBC Global News Ltd. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191203-what-we-get-wrong-about-time

Bergson, H., et al. 2014. Key Writings. London, Bloomsbury.

Theme

This work explores time and memory, the sense of self, and how we locate ourselves within a space of memory, time, and consciousness.

The piece represents the transition and distortion of memories through time and imagination. The background depicts the folds of past memories, with the central area associated with a representation of processing more recent memories. The processing occurs with an awareness of the passing of hours and days, and a blurring of subconscious and conscious events. A past time can also be brought into the present time and is illustrated below the main image.

Bio

Karen Hazelton is a mixed media artist, whose current practice has primarily been working with photographic materiality and process. Photographic work moves from fold to fold creating uncertainty between boundaries of handmade and machine, analogue and digital, object and image.