The Time B-Side

An illustration of a vintage-style clock face in the shape of a spiral overlain with the words "The Time B-Side".

Art is woven through timelines, connecting the past, present and future. It acts as a form of time travel, capturing the essence of an era and transporting you to a specific moment. As the years go by, we rediscover and reimagine the art of years past in a continuous spiral of ideas. With each new creation, original meanings shift and evolve, bringing new interpretations to light.

Not only does art reflect the past and fabricate our present, it also transcends time. It has a lasting impact, able to move us long after it was brought to life. When we look at art of our pasts, we discover truths about ourselves that have not yet been revealed.

In the Time B-Side, Daily Arts writers reflect on the art that weaves itself through their lives, bringing them back to the past, shaping their present and forever altering their futures.

Senior Arts Editor Meagan Ismail can be reached at mismai@umich.edu.

An illustration resembling the “Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind” poster with the main characters lying on cracked ice while Roman numerals, split by the cracks in the ice, circle them.
Sacrificing clarity for eternity
An illustration of the Teens of Denial album cover with spiral and roman numeral motifs.
We are just Teens of Denial
An illustration of a dog running through a forest.
The time it took for me to love the South
An illustration of a woman looking at Thomas Cole paintings with a spiral in the background and roman numerals.
Almost 200 years ago, Thomas Cole’s art interrogated time and progress
An illustration of a still from the film “All About Lily Chou-Chou” with a boy standing in a field and a tape-like swirl covered in roman numerals around him.
Online spaces and ‘All About Lily Chou-Chou’ at 25
A minimalist illustrated design of Tyler, the Creator's IGOR album art.
Tyler, The Creator’s ‘IGOR’: Breaking time using sound
An illustration of a boy watching Jurassic Park on a TV.
‘Jurassic Park’ and bringing the past back to life
An illustration of an assortment of characters from 1967 (The Graduate, and Bonnie and Clyde) vs 2025 (Marty Mauser and Perfidia Beverly).
1967 to 2025 and the new youth movement in cinema
An illustration of a melting clock from Dalí's "The Persistence of Memory" in an uncanny environment. A person is reacting to the clock with confusion and curiosity.
Why clocks are better broken
A redraw of a scene from "Pride and Prejudice" of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy facing one another.
‘Pride and Prejudice’ will never go out of style