Doom? Scrolling Memories
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“Doom? Scrolling Memories”
Doom? Scrolling Memories reflects on the origins of scrolls, contrasting their historical function with the act of digital scrolling as we know it today. Scrolls were once carriers of important news, decrees, and messages, treated with significance and often announced with pride. Today, scrolling has transformed into a habitual and often compulsive behaviour, sometimes so prolonged and all-consuming that it is described as "doomscrolling."
Spanning from 2024 to 2025, this scroll is composed of daily notes, scattered thoughts, and personal ruminations printed on thermal paper, a material destined to fade over time. This choice introduces the personal archive as temporary and ultimately unattainable, challenging the notion of endless scrolling. Scrolling through the work requires close attention to text rather than the graphics, advertisements, and visual stimuli that typically dominate digital platforms.
Humorously, the installation also recalls the way a roll of toilet paper is mounted and gradually consumed through use. Visitors are invited to sit down, if they choose, and journey through months of memories, tracing the scroll back to its beginning. The work also allows viewers to cut away and keep a portion of the scroll. Like the thermal print itself, the fragment will eventually fade, becoming a reminder of the fragility of memory and the temporary nature of the information we consume. It also serves as a reminder of the changing relationship between text, images, and attention.
Doom? Scrolling Memories reflects on the origins of scrolls, contrasting their historical function with the act of digital scrolling as we know it today. Scrolls were once carriers of important news, decrees, and messages, treated with significance and often announced with pride. Today, scrolling has transformed into a habitual and often compulsive behaviour, sometimes so prolonged and all-consuming that it is described as "doomscrolling."
Spanning from 2024 to 2025, this scroll is composed of daily notes, scattered thoughts, and personal ruminations printed on thermal paper, a material destined to fade over time. This choice introduces the personal archive as temporary and ultimately unattainable, challenging the notion of endless scrolling. Scrolling through the work requires close attention to text rather than the graphics, advertisements, and visual stimuli that typically dominate digital platforms.
Humorously, the installation also recalls the way a roll of toilet paper is mounted and gradually consumed through use. Visitors are invited to sit down, if they choose, and journey through months of memories, tracing the scroll back to its beginning. The work also allows viewers to cut away and keep a portion of the scroll. Like the thermal print itself, the fragment will eventually fade, becoming a reminder of the fragility of memory and the temporary nature of the information we consume. It also serves as a reminder of the changing relationship between text, images, and attention.
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This work was generously funded by SK Arts, through The Building Arts Equity: BPOC Program, with funding provided by the Government of Saskatchewan and the financial support of Sask Lotteries, in partnership with SaskCulture.
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