IN PROGRESS
(January 2023 - Present)
These digital collages were created using scans from books, photos from my family archive dating back many generations, public records and newspaper clipping, and hand-drawn illustrations. The books that I included scans from have been passed down from my grandparents and great-grandparents, as my great-grandfather's name can be seen written within the illustrated page from a gardening book. In the case of this first collage, there is also a nod to my family's Irish heritage through the use of a piece of the cover of a book written in the late 1800s about Ireland that has also been in my family for generations. I hope the collages I create like these can bring in an audience that can relate to these small parts of things that are passed down within families to the newer generations; like the handwritten signature of a family member - they held this book exactly as you are now - only decades ago, the dedication of a book to the author's parents - that maybe makes you somehow feel closer to your own mother and father, the copyright date being in the 1800s - knowing how many hands this book has passed through only to end up in yours, and finally the title of a book all about Ireland - the country your family immigrated from only a few generations ago - igniting that question of how different your life would've been in they had decided to stay.
"Irish Blood," February 2023
"Tell Troth," January 2023
"Maternal Grandfather," January 2023
Overall, I believe that we are all products of the way we grew up. What we were surrounded with. And it's the same with your parents, and their parents, and their parents, etc. I am using my own personal archive (photos/objects) to illustrate this very general, and quite relatable, story of the path from 'then' to 'now'. Photos from the past are being used as a vehicle to understand one's past, present, and future. A past that goes further than the day you were born, and a future that goes further than the day you die.
