Image & Narrative (May 2011)
Remixing Memory through Home Movies
Abstract
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 13pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Abstract:</span></strong><span style="color: black;"> The moving image has traditionally provided a catalyst for screen-based culture to develop a language that evokes a means and experience of storytelling positioned in-between the image and the viewer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, this article will frame such a relationship by distancing the moving image from a cinematic or industrial context to instead look to the amateur cohort of private films commonly referred to as ‘home movies’, In doing so, I will consider what Bachelard refers to as a returning to childhood in search of memory, to form a reasoned understanding of the ways in which memory itself can be grafted in-between film and experience. This article will focus on celluloid film which I will define as vintage home movies, namely Standard 8mm and Super 8mm film contributed from domestic-orientated archives. The discussion will examine two main video installations evidencing selected work in the wider series.<em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Filmic Memorials </em>(2002-06) comprised of a substantial body of work established from my family collection of 8mm home movies. </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 13pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: FR;">Résumé:</span></strong><span style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: FR;"> </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: FR;" lang="FR">Dans notre culture de l'écran, l 'image mobile a souvent servi de catalyseur à l'élaboration d'un langage narratif situé à mi-chemin de l'expérience du spectateur et des particularités de l'image. Dans cet article, on voudrait revenir sur ce début en privilégiant non pas le contexte cinématographique ou industriel de l'image mobile mais la production de films amateurs ou domestiques que l'on nomme souvent les "home movies". Ce déplacement me permettra de regarder plus en détail ce que Bachelard appelle un retour à l'enfance dans la quête mémorielle et de mieux comprendre la manière dont la mémoire elle-même se place entre cinéma et expérience. Le corpus de cet article se compose d'un ensemble de films sur pellicule qui relèvent du genre des "vintage home movies", à savoir des films 8 ou super 8 empruntés à des archives de type familial. Je présenterai aussi deux installations vidéo de la série <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Filmic Memorials </span></em><span style="color: black;">(2002-06), l'une et l'autre basées sur des documents provenant de ma propre collection familiale.</span></span></span></span></p>
