Jillian Charyn

I really love this collage series because it touches on nostalgia, something I’ve always been fascinated by.

Memory is such a strange thing. Our minds are constantly reconstructing the past, filling in the gaps, romanticizing certain moments, and sometimes inventing entire stories around things we barely remember.

When I look at these photographs, I feel like I’ve been there. Like I recognize these places, even though I’ve never seen them before. There’s something strangely comforting and unsettling about feeling nostalgic for a time or place you’ve never actually experienced.

I think that’s what I love most about making these. The idea that something completely unfamiliar can still feel deeply personal. That we can miss places we’ve never been, people we’ve never met, and versions of our lives that never existed.

Maybe nostalgia isn’t always about remembering something. Sometimes it’s about imagining what could have been.

What do you feel when you look at these?