In defence of souvenirs: 10 photographers on their most prized mementoes

It’s often said that an image is worth a thousand words; the same can be said for souvenirs. They tether us to a moment, a place or a feeling, acting as a physical reminder of an experience or a connection. All too often, they are clichéd, inexpensive trinkets, hastily bought at an airport, train station or tourist trap, their significance woefully diminished by mass production (even if some, like those bearing Milton Glaser’s ‘I heart NY’ logo, do hold an undeniable charm). Yet the significance and value of a souvenir isn’t just in its physical form but in the story that it tells. A train ticket repurposed as a bookmark, a shell smoothed by an unfamiliar sea, a seemingly naff keyring – these objects are infused with personal meaning. And, in an era where travel is documented through an infinite scroll of images on social media, the physical keepsake has never felt more valuable.

To explore the contemporary significance of souvenirs, we turned to our well-travelled network of photographers, asking them to dive into their archives and select images of treasured mementoes that layer place, object and memory. The images pose a beautiful interplay between the tangible and the intangible, woven through their compositions. Whether it’s an inherited tourist T-shirt, a flea market find or a ten-year old exhibition ticket, souvenirs transcend their material nature to become storytelling artefacts. Through the eyes of these ten photographers, we see them not just as passive reminders, but as active participants in memory-making, shaping how we recall places, people and emotions.

10 photographers on their favourite souvenirs

Annika Kafcaloudis

‘I think of photography as the perfect clutter-free memento,’ says Melbourne-based still-life photographer Annika Kafcaloudis. With a practice focused on objects and creative labour, it was only a matter of time before she scoured her parents’ own collection of travel relics for inspiration. ‘They are a time capsule to a different era and speak so much to the way things were.’ Among Egyptian alabaster candleholders and Papua New Guinean feathered masks, it was their assortment of cotton shirts with raglan sleeves and proper dye transfer that made her flick her camera. Case in point is her depiction of an anodyne T-shirt from the Greek island of Kastellorizo, from where her parents emigrated to Australia. She muses, ‘Thirty-something years later, with good washing and line drying, it’s just as nice and soft as it was when they plucked it off a shelf in 1989.’ @annikakafcaloudis

Mirka Laura Severa

During her travels through California last year, Amsterdam-based photographer Mirka Laura Severa collected everything from pink nail files to glittery Palm Springs memorabilia. Yet the things that she collected the most were plastic deli bags, drawn not to their individuality, but to their mass production and imperfections. ‘They all say the same thing – ‘Thank you, have a nice day!’ What a sentence – I find it superficial yet deep. There must be thousands of them, but once they leave the shop, they can become unique objects with their own stories.’ Mirka Laura also relishes how it’s through use and touch that objects become part of us. ‘I like how they change the moment that we are given them, they become wrinkled, used, torn.’ @mirkalaurasevera

Sergiy Barchuk

When sifting through his archive for this project, Ukrainian-American photographer Sergiy Barchuk came across an image that he made a year and a half ago. Against a nebulous backdrop, two opposite elements coexist – one fished from a stream, the other gathered from the desert. ‘The deer skull was a roadside find, picked up at an antique shop somewhere in Texas. I was on a road trip across the States, heading to Los Angeles,’ he recalls. ‘The piece of styrofoam resting on top of it was plucked from a stream near Seneca Lake – more specifically, Watkins Glen State Park in upstate New York, not far from the Canadian border. Both objects belong to my ‘permanent collection’ of souvenirs, the ones I keep close.’ These mementoes, which hail from opposite corners of the country, have followed Sergiy over the past nine years, through four apartments and a cross-country move; a cross-pollination of sorts. @sergiybarchuk

Dongkyun Vak

When we asked Seoul-based photographer Dongkyun Vak for a picture of his favourite travel keepsake, he got back to us with a miscellaneous assortment of intriguing objects, including a shimmering meteorite gifted by a friend’s grandmother during a year overseas in France, a sleek pack of pain relief medication purchased in Japan, and a ticket to a Thomas Ruff solo exhibition he attended in Tokyo nearly ten years ago. Aside from the meteorite, it quickly became clear to us that Dongkyun has a keen appreciation for sophisticated typography. Yet, as he explains, tickets and receipts also serve as a means of recalling the sights, experiences and joys of his travels without depending on his phone. ‘Tickets are fascinating objects that remind me when and where I was during a trip.’ @vak.dongkyun

Federico Clavarino

Whenever he is in Brussels, stopping by the Jeu de Balle flea market is a must for Italian photographer Federico Clavarino – a place that a local friend has described as ‘the city’s stomach’, where things are digested and reintroduced into the Belgian capital’s metabolism. During his last visit, he was drawn to a book on molluscs and shells, titled Conchyliologie et Malacologie. He recalls, ‘I haggled the price down to one euro – because that’s what you’re supposed to do. I bought it simply for a page featuring a cowrie shell that looked as if it was lit from within by a fiery red glow.’ Federico then set aside time to photograph and enlarge the image and, to his surprise, light leaks appeared in it. ‘I was astonished to see how the leaks seemed to be made of the same substance as the cowrie’s interior.’ @federicoclavarino

Nicolas Polli

For Swiss photographer and graphic designer Nicolas Polli, souvenirs are often destined to become part of his multi-dimensional body of work. He tells us about a recent trip to Amsterdam, which he now remembers through a somewhat surrealist image. ‘I entered a small shop and saw these huge lollipops at the counter. This immediately triggered an image – something between a healthy snack and a really sugary one.’ It’s not uncommon to get lost in thought when wondering about the origins of Nicolas’s sundry compositions, which etch out a contrast of perceptions on everyday perishables and objects. At least we now know these Dali-like lollipops are proudly Dutch. @nicolaspolli

Pauline Caranton

‘The Japanese have a word for when an object stirs a memory – natsukashii. I guess that’s what my object curation is about, the feelings objects provoke and how I can associate them with a moment I’m going to recreate,’ reflects French photographer Pauline Caranton, an architecture graduate who has never shied away from her affinity for sculptural matter. ‘I love objects. I love hunting for secondhand treasures.’ Last year, she travelled to Japan for the first time and was struck by the precision of the things she found. ‘It’s fascinating how everything is so well designed. Often as simply as it should be.’ This year, she returned and brought home a lacquered trinket box, presented in a washi paper container – a gift she knew she would give to her daughter to store dainty treasures. @paulinecaranton

Minh Ngoc Nguyen

‘The last time my parents went back to Vietnam, they asked if I wanted them to bring something home. I jokingly told them to buy some of those colourful plastic stools you find everywhere in Southeast Asia,’ recalls Danish-Vietnamese artist Minh Ngoc Nguyen. Transforming an everyday object into something more evocative – and drawing on his parents’ effort to carry the stools back – Minh created a still life that encapsulates the spirit of nhậu, a Vietnamese term loosely translating to drinking and social gathering. @_minnnh_

Kent Andreasen

A worn-out volleyball wasn’t something South African photographer Kent Andreasen expected to keep as a cherished memento. But perhaps it was the familiarity of the country’s east coast – an area he’s visited his whole life – that made him gravitate toward the unexpected while shooting a friend’s campaign there. Inspired by Wilson from Cast Away, the set designer on duty created the volleyball with an oddly human quality, turning it into a kind of mascot during the shoot. ‘I ended up keeping it, and now it sits above my desk in the studio, looking at me with its almost-blank smile,’ declares Kent. ‘It’s a small but constant reminder of that beautiful, untouched coastline and the lush forests that stand just beyond the beach.’ @kentandreasen

Cédrine Scheidig

We bring home souvenirs to remember our travels – but what about the objects we carry while away, to ease the feeling of homesickness? French-Caribbean photographer Cédrine Scheidig experienced this two summers ago, when she found a conch shell at a stall in London’s Portobello Market during Carnival. ‘It reminded me of objects I often photograph in the Caribbean,’ she says. Drawn to their tactility and subtle gradation of colour, Cédrine often uses shells in her work as quiet, symbolic motifs. But their meaning goes beyond form: ‘Shells were used during the plantation era by escaped Maroon slaves to communicate. They’re metaphorical objects – symbols of history and resistance in the region,’ she explains. @cscheidig

A version of this article appears in the June 2025 Travel Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.