Distorted Patterns, Multiple Meanings

Evocative visuals and distorted recollections are bound together in the dance of memory that teases us with sharp glimpses and blurry edges, while retaining the essence of emotions associated with them

- Susan Mathen

MEMORIES.

They are a tricky thing.

We think we remember certain events exactly as how it happened.

But then is it really what happened, or is it our version of what happened?

Or is it someone else’s version of what happened that we have heard over and over again?

Or is it an ever-changing version that suits the narrative we want to weave?

We really don’t know.

Memories are susceptible to distortion. Sometimes it changes because we are only remembering a memory of an event, not the event itself, and with each retelling or remembering, we tweak the facts a wee bit, unknowingly. This makes us extremely confused when we cannot even rely on our recollection of certain events. But even if we may have a distorted version of what really happened in the past, the emotions associated with those memories seem to stay on. And these are triggered once again when you experience the same visuals, colours, tastes, sounds or smells. The actual sequence of events, or dates, or places, or people, or words spoken may end up being jumbled in our memory, but the emotions seem to be intact, reawakened by these sensory aspects.