That’s today’s theme for Museum Week.
We were talking about how me might explore that idea in these Daily Dose of History posts, and Alyssa, who wins the Brilliant Crown this week, observed,
“Meme culture has certainly become quarantine culture and hit an even bigger surge while everyone is in lock down. They have become such a staple of modern communication, expressing observations, feelings, behaviours that are shared by nearly everyone, but not necessarily communicable through spoken or written language. They seem to be filling an important gap in helping people communicate, to express that we are not alone or to share some of the universal coping mechanisms that are emerging during this crisis.”
The interesting thing about memes is that they say so much in so few words – but you absolutely have to understand the context and have some shared experiences with whoever creates the meme to really know what it’s about. The “Welcome to the club” meme above, for example, might transcend generations – someone seeing that a hundred years from now, with no personal knowledge of this pandemic, would probably agree with its sentiments. But imagine our future historian seeing the “How do you wish to pay” one! She or he would probably be mystified!
So here’s our challenge for you today: Let’s see your memes! Create something – a simple photograph with a caption, an original drawing or work of art, something techy and photo-shopped, whatever – that expresses what this time means to you and how you’re dealing with it. Share it in the comments or via email (crestonmuseum@telus.net). Who knows – maybe they’ll be the central items in a retrospective exhibit.