ann loeb bronfman gallery washington, dc 2010

The source for all the images in this exhibition was a small box of pre-World War II photographs.  I have been fascinated by/obsessed with these photographs all my life.  I became an interpreter of these images, trying to piece together a story.

We all have “memories” of a time we did not know—from early photographs of, or stories about, relatives who lived before we were born. For some, myself included, this “inherited memory” lives in our psyche and haunts us. We forage for the fragments that will complete the story.

My search began with the photographs but only after completing the work was it clear to me that my way of working—making it difficult to fully see the images—was very much part of the story. That’s how it is with memory, even an inherited one.  It can be hard to retrieve. It is often non-linear. It can be vague or unclear or incomplete or hidden…