Memory and scars

As I talked earlier about memory I mentioned that memory can be triggered by senses for example visual ones, so to remember an event it is enough to look at something from that time for example a photograph, a picture or in this case a scar. Scars stays on a skin forever, they can fade but some of them will never disappear, which means that person will always have a remainder of the event.

What is a scar?

“A scar is the body's natural way of healing and replacing lost or damaged skin. A scar is usually composed of fibrous tissue. Scars may be formed for many different reasons, including as a result of infections, surgery, injuries, or inflammation of tissue. Scars may appear anywhere on the body, and the composition of a scar may vary - appearing flat, lumpy, sunken, colored, painful, or itchy. The final look of a scar depends of many factors, including the skin type and location on the body, the direction of the wound, the type of injury, age of the person with the scar, and his/her nutritional status.” (Department of Dermatology, 2009)

Types of scars:

There are quite a few types of scars, I am not going to mention medical terms of types, but what way the scar can appear.

·      Scars from physical injuries

·      Scars appeared after surgery

·      Self-harm scars

·      Scars caused my skin conditions such as acne and chickenpox

·      Scars caused by body modification (scarification)

That means that not only scars look different on every person, but they also hide a different story behind it. I am interested in those stories that are saved not only in human mind but on human body as well. Some of the scars appear when person is very little and he cannot remember the full story himself, however these people usually know how they got it as they been told by older people and/or they experience effects of it (pain caused by scar, going to the doctors and so on)

Scars is something that usually isn’t shown freely as it is believed by society that they are skin imperfections and shouldn’t be seen by everyone. However, I believe that they are important as they made the person the way he is now. That is the reason that for this project I want to photograph them and hear the stories.

References:

Department of Dermatology (2009) Available at: http://dermatology.columbia.edu/conditions/scars.html (Accessed: 21 October 2016).