The Family Jewels

A series of polaroid vignettes that weave in-between the past and present. An exploration of bereavement accompanied by musings alongside archival and new family polaroids. Taken decades apart, the polaroids show the passage of time; who stayed and who is gone. A nostalgic portrayal of family lineage as well as heirlooms that survived the process of grief and loss unscathed. The Family Jewels considers how your grief never shrinks over time. Instead, your life begins to grow around it. The process of finding, scanning and curating the polaroids was lengthy and at times sad. It was hard to look at photos where my Nana and Pa had been so happy, knowing I will never get another moment like that with them. However, I found beauty and happiness in these polaroids as they were able to show me memories I didn’t get to have with my grandparents, though I could still experience them years later. My favourite thing about polaroid film is watching it develop as well as its tangibility. I was able to pick up frozen moments in time and place them alongside present events, decades apart. In the end, I enjoyed being able to pick up these polaroids from 30-odd years ago and continue to tell a story left untold with my own polaroids. Every polaroid is intentional and sequenced in order to construct and tell a story, you just need to know what to look for. Dedicated to Dorothy and Jimmy Angus.

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The Family Jewels, 2021  

photobook  

210 x 148 mm

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