What is Punctum

This chapter studies the oral-performative-interactive register of family photographs with a focus on excavating previously silenced private memories and forging them into counter-narratives generations later. Conducted in a Hungarian divided memory context, the research explores how confabulation can be utilised as an excavation strategy. In the performative data gathering process, the participant interacting with the listener is transformed into a storyteller; through the confabulative process, they inscribed their subjective voice and gained ownership of their past, subsequently rendering their narratives counter to the dominant ideological frameworks. The chapter reports on the methodological challenges and strategies of capturing confabulation through a fine art research practice, taking up two positions, two roles: autoethnographic and archivist-edit.