An Alter to a Timeless Capsule
when the memories are the home—A Kat Scan
Walking past a memory and unlocking its senses before you can even recognize the feeling.
Visiting a place you once knew just to sink into the realization that it’s gone.
The place you once knew.
The person you became in it.
The community and culture it shaped.
Gone.
As the year closes and we start reflecting on the memories left behind, there can be so much to honor in just the thought of what’s been accomplished—the thought of what you’ve done, what you’re leaving behind, and what’s closing. As I think of the year ahead and what it may bring, I keep coming back to the thought of places. The loss of places. Places that were left behind, places abandoned, places that have flourished, places that have closed.
Places like NYC that continue to change. Now entering a new era with a new administration, present the same thought. NYC is changing, the world is changing, but its unknown future leaves us with fears that are groomed by the past. Fears that are comforted by nostalgia. With gentrification taking root in a way that seems to be growing at an exponential rate, space feels so sacred, along with the memories, the stories held in it, and the legacy created within it. Space continues to remind me of the nostalgia—the good ol’ times.
When I walk in the city streets, I think: “Nostalgia is grief dressed in longing for a home you once knew.”
I think of this and wonder why the feeling of nostalgia is so prevalent nowadays.
I think of this, and I look back to the past, like many. Remembering what we once knew, who we once were, the magic of pulling up memories from your head and reimagining them, as senses unlock them, as places activate them.
Outside of the notion that history keeps repeating itself, it feels like nostalgia is being sought out as a way of coping. As a way of remembering.
And so as the chapter closes in 2025, I want to remember the memories that we’re slowly leaving behind. Archive the remembrance. Honoring its impact through remembering. Honoring its senses. Honoring spaces’ presence through nostalgic bittersweetness.
NYC and the place I once remembered. Y2K and the embraced messiness I miss. The bittersweetness of growing out of childhood, and with it, outgrowing places and people around you. I want to honor something that feels forgotten now in the digital world: space.
Physical space.
Spaces that have opened,
spaces once talked about,
spaces that have closed,
spaces now in the past.
This is an ode to NYC, and the place once remembered.
An archive of honor.
Here’s my way of honoring the bittersweet reality of moving on, as time goes on… through a digital alter remembering the places (and maybe even personal faces) within us that we leave behind as time moves forward.
You’ll always be remembered.
I do not own the rights to these photos. If anyone recognizes any, please comment to give credit where it’s due. Thanks.
If this resonated, here are some platforms that honor the past: NuevoYorkinos, My Project Runway, Dominican Studies Institute Library, and she's underrated
𖦹An ode to remembrance
What are some places or objects you wish could be remembered?
Have any you’d like to share? Videos, photos, physical letters, notes, or objects that remind you of the bittersweetness of the past. Anonymously add yours here.
As the year ends, honor the nostalgia by remembering and revisiting.
Here’s to the memories. 🥂
Happy holidays, until next year!
-Kat