Large Regional Still Lifes
About This Project
Large Regional Still Lives began as a sociological study developed to think about personal objects as repositories for memory. I also wanted to think about why we have and hold onto things, what the things means, how the things becomes the larger than life story, and when and how we decide to dispose of these objects, or not.
I sent out a letter to 15 acquaintances-trying to get a mix of background and age, and asked them if they were interested in working with me on a project to create a still life from objects that held meaning and memory. I asked them to gather at least three objects, from nature, from family history; anything that was meaningful to them. I went to their houses, and we arranged their objects into a still life and I photographed them.
This is the 2nd part of a 3 part work. The first body of work was called Memory’s Main Gate. It is a series of book forms with imagery from my own family history. The 3rd and final part will be a body of work to be developed in Poland and Ukraine in the towns where my grandparents were from. I will solicit members of the communities there to participate in a similar project.