Material Transformations of Memory

Disruptive events are memorialized in oral histories and curated things. Other memories exist in artifacts left behind. But what if one studies the materials of crisis as they are removed, replaced, altered, and degraded over the course of an event? Observing these changes suggests the social and physical processes that shape what is remembered. As standardized state and corporate representations (e.g., mass-produced signage) meant to guide responses to COVID-19 overwhelm local variation in coping strategies (e.g., improvised spatial barriers), a study of material transformation illuminates the ephemeral plurality of human response to uncertainty. Institutionalized materials inform memory through their relative abundance, obscuring daily acts that might deviate from government policies. Yet health crises are negotiated in the spaces between legislation and local action. We argue that diachronic perspectives allow us to understand these intersections and critically approach material distortions of social memory.