Podcasts
Gillian Poulter Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada.
This podcast is intended for educational use only.
The compiling of scrapbooks has received little recognition as a craft, but in the past decade has emerged as the latest commercialized craft hobby. Yet "scrapbooking" has a history that goes back to at least the 18th century. In this paper I would like to explore the history of the compilation of scrapbooks and albums as a craft, and consider the implications of its modern form. In many ways, the craft has not changed; it is still primarily a female hobby, and its popularity is due in large part to its commercialization. Yet the way we view scrapbooks and the meanings they create have changed substantially. It is no coincidence that at a time when we fear losing our memory to Alzheimer's, scrapbooking is sold as a means to capture and save family memories. But in "capturing" memories, the scrapbooking industry shapes the range of possible storylines. Scrapbookers don't just use family snapshots taken at random, but pose them with the future scrapbook layout in mind. The needs of the scrapbook demand that the events take place and be photographed. In other words, the craft itself is creating our lives. It is also subordinating the visual – photography – to the textual. The meaning of the photograph on the scrapbook page is fixed by the headlines, layout, and text captions, leaving no room for ambiguity or alternate readings. Moreover, digital technology has made it possible to produce virtual scrapbooks, eliminating the visual/tactile/material experience of the craft by encapsulating the craft object within the virtual space of the home computer. Scrapbook compiling is thus a threatened, and threatening, craft.
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Les albums faits maison existent depuis le 18e siècle et n'ont été commercialisés que depuis une décennie. L'auteure explore les changements à la fois subtils et importants affectant cette forme d'art, ainsi que la signification profonde de ces changements sur notre mémoire et nos souvenirs.