Souvenirs

Museum of the personal: the souvenir and nostalgia

 

Souvenirs generally fall into two distinct types: a souvenir of a place,
or a souvenir of an event. These types sometimes overlap, and once purchased
both aspects are considered intrinsic to the narrative of the object. For
instance, someone may say 'I bought this key ring at Stonehenge last summer'
or 'I bought this tee-shirt at Big Day Out last year.' As contended earlier,
it is obvious that a mass-produced kitsch materiality limited to the realm
of tourism does not bound the souvenir as an object. Souvenirs can also be
precious objects from the start¾for instance souvenir commodities from jewelry
factories and gem fields. Rather, the souvenir can take any material form
as long as the relationship with the possessor is intact. By this, I mean
that there is no separation or rupture of the narrative cast by the possessor
regarding the object. This relationship is at once fetishistic, nostalgic
and above all capable of generating a narrative or discourse with the aid
of the owner. Without the narrative, the objects meaning is invisible, not
able to be articulated without the possessor's input, its role as a stand
in or partial object is lost.