I collected 773 photos... from people I did not know.
Digital life decays quietly. Devices are traded, memory cards are not wiped, and personal images drift into limbo. We treat data as permanent, yet it is fragile and easy to abandon. In that gap sit questions about memory, ownership and privacy.
Secondhand digital cameras are time capsules. Even without names or context, the images still move us. The moment we confront loss, not storage, we start to understand what our digital traces mean.
Ephemeral Archives is a temporary archive that makes digital decay visible. I recovered 773 found photos and presented them as a living collection that exists only for a short time, then disappears. The work invites reflection on value, consent and what remains when technology is discarded.
Over twenty weeks I sourced used cameras and pulled 773 photos from old SD cards. I curated the material into an installation that asked the viewer to sit with the images, without captions or backstory. The project culminated at MONO, where every photo was deleted in real time over three days. No backup. No archive. A deliberate goodbye that made the fragility of our memory tangible.
This project is a hypothetical work created as part of an academic assignment. It is not commissioned by or affiliated with any real clients or brands.