Eleventh International Conference on The Image

Abstract

The discovery of an album of family photographs taken by a North Dakota woman (Nina Weiste) in 1917 triggered a search that became deeply personal. They created a lens through which I could examine how family memories are constructed and reinforced, and they allowed me to extend that understanding to my own experience. The first phase of the project, published in 2017, (book) explored common themes existing within family photographs, principally the intersection of the North Dakota woman’s family album and my own. With the intention of expanding the project, I have established connections between: Nina’s ancestral home in Northern Finland; the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where Nina’s family first settled in the USA, and Frederick, South Dakota, where Nina’s family established a homestead in 1882. My objective is to establish relationships between three communities, using the genre of family photography as a catalyst to share life stories, and to illuminate interconnection.