Tag: relationships

#02: Everything In Its Right Place

With the help of memories, whether joyful or heartbreaking, an ordinary object can become a time machine. Since objects hold our memories how do we decide what to throw out and what to keep? “Everything In Its Right Place,” examines the power of mementos.

We start our inquiry with Marie Kondo, the professional organizer and author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Spark Joy. Her KonMari method of de-cluttering is a global sensation, but what if an object does not spark joy but we cannot bear to throw it away?

Part 1: The Museum of Broken Relationships invites people to anonymously donate love momentos, helping participants to both let go of and memorialize a significant relationship. “What we are commemorating are these memorable moments when you are able to say there is before and after,” says Olinka Vistika, the co-founder of the museum. “Things were never the same after that moment, and these are moments that mark us profoundly.”

Part 2: “The Significant Object Project” attempts to see if ordinary objects can become valuable mementos when paired with an imagined memory.

knife_01_01

Part 3: As humans, we’re in the business of making meaning. We want to make sense of our lives, and that’s why memories and objects are perfect bedfellows. They bond together and give us a vivid reality to play back, or a seductive fiction we want to believe. How do we tell the difference between reality and fiction when our future is on the line?

Image credits: Banner photo by Amanda Vandenberg; Photo on right by Samantha Martin; Artwork by Ruxandradraws.

SUBSCRIBE: iTunes | Stitcher | SoundCloud | RSS

#01: Eyes of Another

Autobiographical memories are the stories we tell ourselves, but they’re also a window into other people’s experiences. They’re one of the best ways we have to connect to one another, which is why they’re critical to the bonding process within relationships, families and communities. But what if one person desperately wants to forget, and the other person desperately wants to remember? That’s Rachel Stephenson’s story.

For children, the sharing of memories, good or bad, is critical for their development. Marshall Duke and Robyn Fivush, psychologists at Emory University’s Family Narratives Lab, created a “Do you know test,” for children, which asked questions from “Do you know where your grandparents grew up?” to “Do you know an illness or something terrible that happened in your family?” The researchers came to an overwhelming conclusion: The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem, and the more successfully they believed their families functioned.

Rachel Stephenson lost her mother three days after her fifth birthday. She’d been told her mother was sick, but years later she discovered the truth. Rachel’s story tracks the search for details of that fateful night her mother died and how her unexpected discovery ultimately brings her closer to her father.

Photos courtesy of Rachel Stephenson.