The Man, woman, and his children
The Man, Wife, and His Children is an archival exploration of the maternal side of my family. Using archival photographs and documents from my mother’s side, I show the forgotten narrative of how the relationship between grandfather and grandchild has changed and how past stresses affect the next generation. I collage images with hand-woven embroidery stitched into the cracks, rips, and tears, and along the flayed edges of images to create a sense of vulnerability and fragile stabilization of the family dynamic that is hidden in each image. Each photograph, a representation of a memory, now has an extended context that goes beyond the meaning of my grandfather’s paternal responsibilities and his spousal obligations, taking artistic liberty to depict how he viewed the people in his life through these motifs and themes.