Next week I'm flying to Thessaloniki to work on my installation in the main square for the Dimitria Festival. Meanwhile, my friend Shahar Kazara, who is responsible for this wonderful journey, is busy finding fabricators and problem solving...
I've been inspired by Thessaloniki’s ancient and cosmopolitan history, arrivals and departures of cultures and people, and countless histories of migration and emigration.
On the Internet I found a photograph of a Greek immigrant family – the Hios family - taken in Washington DC in 1919.
On the Internet I found a photograph of a Greek immigrant family – the Hios family - taken in Washington DC in 1919.
This made me think about how family photographs represent memories and reinforce identity, how they are used as illustrations of family history, to supply continuity and context. I read that American photographers in the early Twentieth Century made a good living supplying formal studio photographs of immigrant families, of groups, new arrivals and also deaths, to be sent to those remaining in the ‘old country’.
The family group is still a constant in contemporary family photographs, the different generations still posed in the same way. Their gaze is always directed outward at the spectator; but they are gazing at themselves in the future.
1 comment:
Interesting work. I came across your blog while "blog surfing" using the "Next Blog" button on the Navigation Bar at the top of the blog. Liked the name of your blog initially, and then went on to admire the photos. Keep up the good work.
http://www.theviewfromoutsidemytinywindow.blogspot.com
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