As 2020 draws to a close, this year’s final instalment of the Yearbook Flip series flips to the last pages of yearbooks in search of parting words and messages.

Beyond the stories told within their pages, yearbooks are also innate objects, each carrying a material history of their own. As an object, a yearbook is a fascinating material token of memory and nostalgia. To the yearbook’s owner, this object carries the weight of what this part of their life meant to them: the relationships made, the experiences had, the interests cultivated, and the paths chosen. Here, what matters are the bent pages and tattered covers, habitual signs of use; or the personalized markings with pen, pencil or marker, a result of our relentless impulse to leave a mark on the world.