Aging & Social Change: Ninth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Representation and social justice is segregated on many levels, including generationally. My project recognizes senior members of society by presenting the opportunity to share life stories using family photographs as a catalyst. The project celebrates a broad diversity of senior citizens, whether living independently or in retirement communities. The project’s principal goal is to reveal common humanistic themes preserved within the record of family photographs. I invite participation by asking, “if your house caught fire and you could only bring one photograph, which one would it be?” The photograph becomes a catalyst for telling life stories. Through a process of re-photographing old photographs held by their owner, with accompanying, life-stories as text, and exhibited in a group, what may previously have been regarded as a-snapshots, containing meaning for a few, is transformed into art with communal appeal. Art is the only intermediary able to visually articulate such powerful emotional correlations. Photography, because of its magical ability to freeze time and mirror reality is the ubiquitous visual medium, and therefor, the perfect vehicle to articulate such a project.