to be worn is to be loved

from the desk of art curatorial

by Olivia Lee

Nostalgia, a Love Worn

by Nancy Banh

The one thing we have always owned is the mind. It holds our memories, our thoughts, and our consciousness. It is our mind that connects the body to the state of living rather than simply being alive. 

​When you remember, what is it that you remember? Were you happy? Overwhelmed? Or perhaps sad? What did it mean to you? What does it mean to you now? What can it mean to you later?

Our lived experience, day-to-day, jotted down by the countless, itty bitty neurons, filed away for safekeeping. Thousands upon thousands, millions, billions, perhaps trillions (if you have enough brain capacity, congrats! Or my condolences!) of memories stored away, waiting to be evoked by remembrance.

The familiar warmth and brightness of the sun, the well-loved, soft blankets at home, your mother’s joyful laugh—it’s an unconscious yearning. The ordinarily mundane suddenly isn’t so… normal anymore. The act of missing. Remembering becomes missing.

To remember isn’t necessarily ‘love’ in any particular sense. To feel and to know is enough. The mind has the capacity to remember anything, but what does it mean to miss something? Someone? Some place? To miss is to love. It is nostalgia.

The creaky chairs that had, haphazardly, littered the lecture halls might one day be replaced. Your favorite corner shop with your beloved sweet treat ceased business. The old soles of your everyday shoes can flatten no more. It is not the act of remembering that brings nostalgia; it is the acknowledgement of forgotten experiences and lost markers of memories that peels back those superficial circumstances. 

You begin to love through remembering, through missing, and through losing. Nostalgia is the most powerful but mundane thing we own. Yet it is when it is lost that we suddenly realize our love.

                       So… what does it mean to forget? Is it to grieve? To regret? To mourn?

Forgetting implies the lack of. A worn memory is a forgotten one. 

                                                   Is ‘time’ to blame? Or is it our fault? 

In order to forget, you must first remember. Remember that you forgot. 

So yes, to forget is a fault of the mind. But we must first forget to remember. By remembering, it is then we know nostalgia. It is then we acknowledge the depth of what it means to have a ‘worn’ love.

The Troggs were right when they wrote “Love Is All Around” (so cheesy, I know). This month, we decided to explore how love can be seen through everyday objects. Some subjects are more obvious, like a worn, childhood bear (Mike Kelley who??) or a note left in a secondhand CD. However, some objects are things you don’t often think about like a pilling, hand-me-down t-shirt, altered skirt, or the eraser you use everyday. Love is really all around (still cheesy, I apologize).

by Alma Hasley