Anonymous Family
Anonymous Family
Family albums have become a standard for people to portrait their family
and create a collective memory. We share a need to capture memories and
special moments with the people we know. Things as a birthday cake,
children taking a bath or a trip to the beach have become a portrait of the
normal , typical family memory. Sometimes we don’t even remember the
occasion but we relive it by looking at the picture and assuming we
remember the memory. I am the third child in my family. Both my brother and
sister were born and raised in London. I was born a year after my family
moved from their home in London due to an anti-Semitic stone attack on my
brothers Hebrew school. My parent’s memories and stories are of England.
Over the years I have heard of my family in England. I remember hearing of
London in the snow, youth and happiness. Stories of my family. People I
never met, people that always remained anonymous and their faces are no
more distinct than any other person in a photo album. As for today there
are no new photos to fill the pages of my family album, As times have
changed .There is no snow here in Jerusalem, the youth is well gone and
happiness isn’t a part of the everyday life. I’ve browsed throw these old
photos trying to look for a family but all I found was empty spaces.
Stories of places I’ve never been to, people I never saw and a period that
I haven’t lived in. Those photos were fascinating to me. I have stopped
trying to look for my family in the people I don’t recognize or memories in
the places I’ve never been to. But instead I started looking for thing that
find a way to creep into the photos. Shadows, dents, scratches, and
defects. The people have become unimportant. The stories were muted and all
I had left was myself. I have started creating a story of my own, a family
of my own a portrait of time, people and places as I would like to remember
and understand them. This is my anonymous family.
Family albums have become a standard for people to portrait their family
and create a collective memory. We share a need to capture memories and
special moments with the people we know. Things as a birthday cake,
children taking a bath or a trip to the beach have become a portrait of the
normal , typical family memory. Sometimes we don’t even remember the
occasion but we relive it by looking at the picture and assuming we
remember the memory. I am the third child in my family. Both my brother and
sister were born and raised in London. I was born a year after my family
moved from their home in London due to an anti-Semitic stone attack on my
brothers Hebrew school. My parent’s memories and stories are of England.
Over the years I h [read more...]
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