The Burning House

In a seminar a couple of weeks ago, my lecturer and I were discussing archives. Albums our family keep, and how modern day technology has brought a premature (in our opinion) end to this tradition of memory keeping, opting now for keeping all our images on hard drives and social networking sites. I've always thought this makes the images somehow less precious, without being framed and stored in books, on display and on shelves around our homes. 

I digress. What I wanted to do is to share this site she recommended to me.

The Burning House project is an amazing insight into people's lives by looking at their precious belongings in answer to this simple question - 'If your house was burning, what would you take with you?' People from around the world submit their images of a collection of objects they deem special enough to risk their lives saving with a small caption explaining their choice. The site explains 'Think of it as an interview condensed into one question.'

It's very interesting to see so many people have chosen to save machines that help create archives, as well as the archives themselves (in various forms, like photographs, heirlooms and books). The most notable thing is everyone wants to save memories, and they seem to be what people are most willing to risk they're lives for. What does this say about their importance? It is paramount.