A grandpa is losing his memory.

A grandson is losing his grandpa. 

And the world is losing the memories of an ageing generation. 

What can we do to ensure these memories aren’t lost?

Nominated for a 2016 Eisner award, this story deals with the theme of memory on a few levels. The story jumps between a grandson’s memories of his grandpa and his grandpa’s memories of his own life. The dementia causes memories of the past and present to blur. After experiencing some health problems an episode of psychosis is triggered and the grandpa’s mind is thrusted back in to a vivid memory of the war. By the end of the story the grandpa begins to question the value of memory at all. 

These Memories Won’t Last uses HTML5 code to bring the panels to life with sound and animation. As the reader begins to scroll through the story it begins to fade away. The interactivity serves as a reference the fragility of memory and the condition of dementia, by allowing the experience to deteriorate over time. 

Note from the author…

I liked the idea that readers could carry the memory of my grandpa around in their pocket. Creating the story involved a lot of programming and cross-browser testing.  During this process, It occurred to me that me that in a few years time the browser would have been updated so many times that the story may not even work anymore. This in term brought another layer of memory to light, our digital memory.  We rely on our digital devices to store so many of our memories, until one day we accidentally drop our phone in a cup of coffee and they’re all gone. If you get a chance to read the story, please try to remember and pass it on.

Interview with Sutu (2016)

Credits

Writer, illustrator and animator: Sutu

Sound Design: Lhasa Mencur

Programming: Vitaliy Shirokiy