2026 SPE Annual Conference: Catalyst for Exchange
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print this pageSacred Reverie: memories from photographs become testament
Howard Leu
Saturday, October 11 - 2:00PM to 2:15PM
Wayne State University
Geoffrey Batchen, in his 2004 book Forget Me Not, asks: "Has photography quietly replaced your memories with its own?"
My work engages with photographs from my childhood as I attempt—often unsuccessfully—to recover memories I feel I have lost. I use this process to compile stories of my immigrant family through the photo album I have carried since I was 15 years old. This archive is both a mystery and an affirmation of my past, yet it also prompts me to question whether certain memories are lived experiences, prosthetic memories, or images shaped by photographic evidence.
These photographs parallel the immigrant experiences of many others. I see them not only as records of a past life but also as visual data with more stories to tell. By reexamining them, I form new relationships with both the images and the events they represent, creating a dialogue between past and present.
speaker
Howard Leu
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