The first thing that truly spoke to me from this video was when Ian Burkey touched on Eidetic therapy. He spoke of it as “going through all those emotional, behavioral and cognitive experiences related to pictures gets you in touch with the quality and meaning of your own life.” This really stuck out to me as throughout the years in my leisure time I’ve always loved looking through my camera roll or looking through the artwork that sits in various places around my house or on my laptop. Going through these photos or pieces helps me feel a sense of living through that experience once again. It’s a universally known statement that a photo can capture a moment in time forever, however, I never truly dug deeper into how many other things resurface within our minds when revisiting these things. Especially during a time like a worldwide pandemic, revisiting photos, artwork, or even places can really help us maintain our grip on reality by reminding us that life is not solely filled with quarantining and social distancing. Without things to look back on and remind us of what was we would have no reason to have things to look forward to, and is there really a meaning to anything If you can’t look forward to enjoying your time doing whatever that may be.
Professor Travers and Ian Burkey’s discussion on visual journaling has further convinced me how important the stimulation of drawing and creating is. I previously would only sketch when I was asked to or when it was necessary for a later piece, but recently (especially after my first studio classes last year) I’ve really enjoyed the time that I spend drawing for no absolute reason other then to create something to remember.
Professor Travers said looking back at his art is almost like visiting an old friend, and I couldn’t agree with that statement more. Every time I go back through my oldest art it feels as if I’m visiting my youngest sibling or family member and as I’ve progressed throughout the years my art feels like less distant family members of mine that I occasionally check up on to remember them by.