I read a section of The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes of Public History as research for Assignment Three, recognising that this is particularly likely to be useful reference material for Landscape module (which is still years away for me!).
Of particular relevance were the pages 46-48 on place memory. Hayden debates the argument that places are containers for memories, that memories connect with places. Places represent shared pasts, and therefore shared memories.
I think that my experience of photographing Felixstowe has proved this to be true. By being in the place, I found things that triggered memories, things I had forgotten, and feelings that I was actually at peace with. And of course, although the nature of the memories are not the same, these memories are shared with my parents, aunts, sister and were part of my grandparents memories when they were alive.
What is interesting is that we can travel to places that evoke memories - it's almost like time traveling but from an emotive perspective. By traveling to a place that contains memories, we also travel back in time, in our minds, to recreate those memories.
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