Thursday, 20 August 2026

The memory of lost objects.


A few years ago a friend gave me this quirky hand towel for Christmas. I was puzzled (and delighted) as I'd seen it before but couldn't place it. I decided it must have been the hand towel in the bathroom of the hotel we stayed in Ho Chi Minh city. But from time to time, when I saw it, it would make me think. I wasn't so sure...but I knew it was somewhere.

While staying at my Mum's recently, I saw it! My dad had them. He had them apparently from before they were married or at least before they moved to Japan. He worked Borneo and Malaysia for a few years, then based in Singapore travelled to Hong Kong a lot. So he would have picked them up there. (Towel origin here & here).  

I must have seen these insignificant objects all my childhood and yet I never registered them. Which reminds me of something that was said in a Harvard history course I did, that it's the most common objects that get lost to time, as no one thinks they're important enough to keep.

What I found most interesting, was that my brain rummaged through memories and picked a specific moment that it thought was most probable. I could 'see' it hanging in the bathroom, though I couldn't really see the rest of the bathroom beyond the tiles and towel rack. It furnished me with a false memory that I didn't question, though it did nag at something at the back of my brain from time to time.

I think that's why when looking for lost keys you often 'see' them on a desk or hook when they aren't there. You brain is trying to helpfully fill in the blanks for you with probably outcomes.

Memory is not concrete but a recreation of facts that our brain thinks is helpful. "Memory belongs to the imagination. Human memory is not like a computer which records things; it is part of the imaginative process, on the same terms as invention. Alain Robbe-Grillet


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9 comments:

  1. When I was cleaning out my mum and dad's house I found a recipe book that had been put together by the kindy mum's when I was at kindy. We kids did a collage on the front with pictures cut from cards, magazines etc. Interesting what is kept. Enjoy your weekend ahead.

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  2. Nice to have something like that to bring out important memories, have a good weekend.

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  3. "it's the most common objects that get lost to time"
    A while ago, I read a publication by The Internet Archive called "Vanishing Culture" which is about preserving things (obviously not in physical form in this particular case) that people might think not important enough (anything from video games to newspaper archives). It was very interesting.

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  4. Very fascinating post! Our brains really are so amazing. I've been contemplating some of these same issues lately, thinking about my mind and soul. Thank you for a great read here! (I'm your neighbor over at Traffic Jam reboot.)

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  5. Interesting article! We never think to take pictures of the ordinary things around us. These hand towels are common in Asian households, and people who use them swear by them. I think they’re originally from China.

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  6. The brain definitely does try to fill in the gaps like that! It thinks its helping, haha.

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  7. "memory belongs to the imagination." Love it.

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  8. Interesting post! Fascinating how our brains work.

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  9. J'aime bien ce titre et ce principe. Se souvenir des objets perdus. il faudrait faire une série là-dessus

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