Stories that Lie in the Untold: An Album Curation of Foreign Images, 2021
by Meaghan Murray
Without context, the possibilities of a photo’s biography are endless, especially when it appears to be a personal photograph of the type commonly found in people’s homes. Through the act of assembling albums, my work explores the enigma I encounter by owning someone else’s pictures and not knowing the details behind their creation. The ritual of taking family photos is a performative act that provides insight into family dynamics and produces a lasting historical document of these relationships.
My works take the form of albums created out of discarded images that I purchase and then develop into photo assemblies. The selection process involves making a storyline based on my initial reaction to the photos and then arranging them as if they are my own memories. I attempt to convey a narrative with this fabricated family through grouping photos in themes common to family albums, such as a trip to the beach or a birthday party. Through this arranging of photos, I seek to enact the concept of family as a way to prompt viewers to consider vernacular photography in new ways and to honour the memories present within the images, as well as to allow others to speculate further on their context.
This exploration of family photo albums assesses the performative quality of taking and displaying photographs, including those not meant to be public, and the sentimental quality of physical images amid the dominance of digital archives. Is it necessary to have an intimate attachment to the people, places, or objects in an image to display it with genuine appreciation? What happens when an accessible vessel is used to hold random photos and mimic the family albums we are all so familiar with?
