The Daborn Family
“Little things bring back to mind Thoughts of happy bygone times” (Geoffrey Batchen, 2004)
Family photographs are treasures, yet people discard them. To address this paradox I want to take a collection of photographs and re-contextualise them, bringing them back to life, giving them new meaning and new value. The images are essentially disembodied faint echoes that have no relationship with me so I decided to insert myself into the photographs. Bringing the images back to life by putting myself in them, I create a story that originates from the idealised families in my childhood books. This method re-contextualises both the photographs and me, through my own longing of the family album.
Family photographs are treasures, yet people discard them. To address this paradox I want to take a collection of photographs and re-contextualise them, bringing them back to life, giving them new meaning and new value. The images are essentially disembodied faint echoes that have no relationship with me so I decided to insert myself into the photographs. Bringing the images back to life by putting myself in them, I create a story that originates from the idealised families in my childhood books. This method re-contextualises both the photographs and me, through my own longing of the family album.
“Fifth you see the cutouts, or collages. At this point absence itself becomes foregrounded. The present and the past are intertwined by the very material: layers of photographs from the past on top of fresh paper. In these the objects of memory are rendered ambiguous, mysterious, and the grip upon the details of the past is slipping. “
(Emily Prince, 2008: http://www.emily-prince.com/index_content.html)
