"provoke memories" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it when you want to suggest that something (an object, a situation, etc.) reminds you of a past experience. For example, "The smell of the ocean always seems to provoke memories of my childhood summers spent at the beach."
Holidays provoke memories, which can be especially powerful in the later years of life.
The docks and associated industries used to employ thousands of locals, and some of them still feature remnants or provoke memories of the good times: the days when the stevedores might purloin a slab of prime imported steak and a bottle of whiskey and go for a riotous crawl through the town's countless drinking holes.
- Hermes Tie: Hermes creates ties with designs that provoke memories, making it a 'gift to remember.' One year I gave Shelly a tie with lions in a jungle setting alongside a card that read: "You will always be the king of my jungle".
So it should be no surprise that 21 buildings and locations in the vicinity still provoke memories of him in what is essentially a living outdoor museum -- where the modern landscape exists in surprisingly similar fashion to how it was in Vincent's day.
When the Netherlands legalised euthanasia earlier this year, the reaction was one of widespread revulsion, provoking memories of the Nazis' attempts to create a master race.
In Europe, Ms. Patel noted, they have provoked memories of the police states created by fascism and communism, with their heavy-handed surveillance of their own people.
Ken Emerson's article about the Brill Building songwriters ["When the Epicenter of Pop Had a Broadway Address," Aug. 26] provoked memories.
The encounter provokes memories of a sexually charged relationship with her brother, as well as an unsettling fascination with the facial damage she will make no attempt to erase.
The All Blacks against Les Bleus, wearing kits that those names would suggest, is among the more iconic images in world rugby, provoking memories of their 1999 World Cup semi-final or the try from the end of the world.
Sunnis were particularly outraged last month when the bodyguards of the Sunni finance minister, Rafi al-Issawi, were arrested.That provoked memories of a similar episode a year ago, when Mr Maliki's men jailed, tortured and sentenced to death the guards of the vice-president, Tareq al-Hashemi, another leading Sunni, accusing them of being part of a death-squad that was targeting Shias.
Another mural that depicted a captain also attracted controversy because it looked as if a priest were preaching to Mi'kmaq people, provoking memories of residential schools.
