In 1001 Accurate Memories Berlin artist Alex Head presents patterns of self-repair amongst the ruins of ideas, relationships and human bodies. The author travels across space and time attempting to gain insights into class, disability and trauma through drawing, writing and photography. His investigation into traumatic memory tempts the author to suggest a shift from Germany’s professed ‘memory culture’ to a ‘traumatic memory culture’, in that traumatic memory is greatly more accurate.

Consequently, 1001 Accurate Memories seeks to locate the reader back within their own skin by highlighting our differentiated but ultimately shared anatomy.

Birthed from a seven year odyssey into blood, guts and tears, the work proposes that sensations in the body begin wider processes of understanding. By identifying the value of listening to the body in this way, the interpretative role of the human brain becomes more apparent. From this insight stems the ability to see trauma, memory and political propaganda as forms of easily manipulated emotional information. This leads Head to conclude that the primary way to counter such manipulation is the spiritual, physical and mental self-determination of the human body.

Images: Ivar Kvaal