Camera Roll Artefacts

This project marries my Concentrations in Anthropology and Visual Studies through a virtual ethnography presenting various people’s interactions with their camera rolls. In this moment of limited in-person exchanges, I was curious to observe people’s self-reflections in screen recordings of their photo streams. I considered what it meant for individual’s, as well as society’s, memories to be archived in the smartphone ‘Photos’ application, and how this small, addictive machine has given many the capability to be a photographer, in one of the many senses of the word. It has also transformed people into creators and curators of the visual content recorded in their photo streams. Realising the notion that our smartphone camera rolls are a microcosm of ourselves, I explored the effect that this data and information filled, chronologically evolving recording of our lives has on our minds. Essentially, how the documentation in someone’s camera roll acts as a prolific archive of their thoughts, activity and experiences. Our phone’s camera roll has become a modern day diary of our personal activity and recent history, and now acts as a representation of both us as individuals and of society as a whole. Looking into someone’s camera roll is to see life from their perspective; a range of moments are captured whether they be their private or circulated photos or videos, screenshots, photos saved or content received from contacts. Through observing people’s navigation of their albums and scrolling through their camera rolls, I got an intimate glimpse of their character. Watching people’s screen recorded interactions with their camera rolls, I understood an identity built through the visual data their camera roll was made up of - a persona constructed through a proliferation of images of themselves, the people they are with, the things that they do and what interests them. From the innocuous and every day to the monumental, the introduction of the smartphone camera roll has changed not only how we think about the art and medium of photography, making it infinitely more accessible, but also how we deal with memory and nostalgia. The ceaseless building of our camera roll, and in turn the curation of visual matter in our lives, is a way of procuring our permanence of existence on earth. A fantastically exhaustive archive of photos and videos becomes our greatest legacy. Enjoy delving into the visual archive of a few individual’s minds.

- Caroline