The Lens of Memory
"One must always maintain one's connection to the past and yet ceaselessly pull away from it."
~Gaston Bachelard
These photos are inspired by Gaston Bachelard's 1958 book The Poetics of Space. The work explores the profound relationship between physical spaces and our memories and dreams of them.
How do our memories of our frequented spaces influence our thoughts and creative lives?
Jens Jensen, a Danish immigrant, fell in love with the prarie and its colors. Jensen designed the 140-acre Columbus Park west of the Chicago Loop in the Austin neighborhood.
Columbus Park was built in 1912, is considered Jensen’s finest work, and was initially intended to be a refuge for the working class; it remains a haven for people wanting to escape the city's congestion.
I photographed the park in the winter of 2021-22; the images illustrate the park's beauty and the memories it holds in its landscape and structures.
