WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR MEMORIES WHEN THE PLACES BECOME UNRECOGNIZABLE?
Conor CusackThe coast is where I see my mother most herself, least troubled-content to walk down to the cover in the pouring rain to admire the washed up jellyfish and collect shards of common shells as if they were a perfect sand dollar or shining abalone.
Whether through dislocation, gentrification, or disappearance, the climate crisis has meant the distortion of extinction of places. “Place” being more than a physical, ecological formation. It includes people, our interactions, our histories. So as places disappear, mutate, or become inaccessible, what happens to the relationships and memories that are embedded in them?
Write on a card the memories and connections to people and place that are at stake for you in this moment. What people and places cannot be separated from each other? What places do you need to access certain memories? What people do you need to access the full experience of a place?