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The Visual Memoir Project: Searching For An Art Of Memory, Blake Smith

Marilyn Zurmuehlen Working Papers in Art Education

This essay describes an in-progress arts-based dissertation project that attempts “visual life writing” (Sinner & Owen, 2011) as photographic memoir. Spanning several years to date, the series addresses the idea of visually archiving the self through an everyday photographic ritual. Ruminations on loss, presence/absence, and the passage of time are given creative and emotional consideration from behind the camera. Through narrative reflections on my experiences as an artist, teacher, and researcher, the process of art-making is brought alongside the images themselves. Drawing as its subject matter selected scenes, encounters, and objects from everyday life, I share how the project came ...