Talking with Jon, we discussed the portability of grief, and how we have emotional connections to metadata in the form of an online photograph, an audio file of someone’s voice, someone’s email address, or a video of someone’s childhood. These .jpegs, .mp3s and .mp4s are a kind of digital, portable memorials. I want to explore this idea more.
I think of the flower arrangement my dad made a day before he passed away, and how we kept all the flowers pressed in his heaviest books. Maybe it can be a digital, botanical booklet.
I think of green tomatoes and Mexican dishes I miss and Day of the Dead shrines. How would can they function as digital, portable memorials?
I think of the audio files I thought I had lost of my dad’s voice and a voice note my mom sent me talking about how she’s processing everything without her daughters home. Maybe there’s something to be explored there as well.
Maxim Zaragoza 