Re/Memory
“Places, places are still there… The picture is still there and what’s more, if you go there– you who never was there– if you go there and stand in the place where it was, it will happen again; it will be there for you, waiting for you.”
— Toni Morrison’s Beloved
Mission Statement
Toni Morrison’s concept of rememory, first introduced in her novel Beloved, captures the influence of the past, both physical and in feeling, on the present. We investigate the transitory liminal contexts of space and place wherein the past and present communicate, conflict, and converge. In these contexts, the linearity of time crumbles, revealing the wounds of the past that are still gaping. We look at how the present responds to the past, focusing on the presence of colonial and racial histories in the physical and mental landscapes of our present day.
A Present Past
Morrison interacts with and utilizes the past in her writing to comment and reflect on the present moment. What she reveals through this process is a past that retains physicality and maintains a material influence in the present.
We look at places that have retained a historical memory that interacts with or evades our present collective consciousness, from Antiguan sugar mills refurbished with new purposes to land and labor acknowledgements.
Within these material landmarks are haunted histories waiting to be recognized and remembered. With Morrison’s Memory, we can recover the historical contexts of our modern spaces and their lasting influence, both conscious and unconscious, on the present.
The picture is still there and what’s more, if you go there– you who never was there– if you go there and stand in the place where it was, it will happen again; it will be there for you, waiting for you.”
–Toni Morrison’s Beloved