"Made-Up Memories corp©" (2013-ongoing)

Abstract

Ruth Sousa is an artist and researcher who investigates historical-alternative photographic processes, through which she creates installations that establish links between memory, narrative and fiction. In 2010, Sousa began collecting old objects from her own family to create her installations, in which she sought to reconstruct her family memories. From this work, people outside her family began sending her various objects aiming to create new desired memories, which led her to create Made-Up Memories corp©.

"Made-Up Memories corp©" is a fictitious company that offers the possibility of fabricating evidence in the form of memories, aiming to replace a specific memory with a new one, or even to create a totally new one. Developing a methodology similar to the one used in criminology, where an event is reconstructed in order to provide a credible representation for other people to perceive, Made-Up Memories corp© develops an interview with its clients in order to collect their stories, images, vestiges and objects that will enable the development a credible set of evidences that prove the existence of invented memories, thus allowing the remembrance of significant experiences.