We typically take pictures of things and people the way we want to remember them, but sometimes the visual reminder is too powerful to bear. Today, AI can remove unwanted figures from digital photos with the touch of a button, but altering photographic images has not always been so easy.
Early photographic processes required creative and sometimes laborious modes of alteration, such as carving into metallic substrates and painting over prints. However, rather than accomplishing a complete annihilation of memory, attempts to obscure unwanted figures often end up highlighting the very act of erasure. These objects from Special Collections, Fine Arts Library demonstrate an enduring desire to forget, as well as the persistence of visual evidence that often forces us to remember.
Guest curated by Madison Brown, John R. and Barbara Robinson Family Curatorial Fellow in Photography, Harvard Art Museums