Sacramentos: Family Moments

In the Fall of 2019, I started going through old family photographs and papers that had lain quietly in boxes brought in when my mom, Rosemarie, moved to an apartment in a continuing-care community near me. Mom is now 98. I’ve seen her memory fading and felt an urge to sort through photos from her, my uncles (her brothers), and my dad. Some photos go back as long ago as the late 1800’s.

As I looked at photos of relatives, guessing at names now that mom can’t tell me, some images really called to me and these I set aside. Reading notes on the back of the photos, the old letters and assorted bits from my parent’s childhoods in the 1920-30’s, I felt stirred to get started on what is now an ongoing project.

Sacramentos: Family Moments, is both a reference to where my mom grew up (Sacramento, CA) and a theme of sacred moments that I believe occur in many families. The photos and writings are from my family and personal to me. And, they record circumstances that nearly everyone has shared in their families.

I am exploring how family history weaves into personal identity through the use of these family photographs and writings. The prints in this project contain scans of text from the back of the photographs, old letters and other papers. The photographs are a record of “sacred moments” in family life: backyard photos sent to a soldier son overseas; a newly-wed wife photographed by her spouse on their honeymoon; courting couples; family picnics; good times and catastrophes. These family memories and related text are mixed into recent photographs that I’ve made in spaces I value. Making the images has helped me understand more about who I am.

I have an intention that these prints may inspire reflection and conversation about family. As you look at them, perhaps you’ll have thoughts of your own family and consider: what are those moments sacred to you.

Prints from the Sacramentos portfolio are available for purchase.