Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce — but no one stands at the altar on their wedding day expecting to be part of that half. The rupture comes later — like a crack that gradually spreads.

For the first year after my parents’ divorce, I tried to piece together the signs of their impending separation.

I saw my parents’ divorce as something that would forever alter the way I viewed my childhood.

What remains of a marriage after divorce? I asked myself.

I could never find an answer.

Then, for my photojournalism class, we were asked to use artificial intelligence in a video project. I began asking ChatGPT questions that I, myself, could not find the answers for. One of those questions was: What remains of a marriage after divorce? ChatGPT’s answer surprised me.

One of the remnants of a marriage after divorce is the memories: memories my family captured on a handheld video camera long ago; memories painstakingly digitized by my dad when I was in high school; memories now passed down to me, a college student studying visual journalism; memories that divorce can never change.