album
album
2023
(1998-2023)
60 sheets (120 pages)
Single edition, Coptic bound with waxed linen thread
Laser engraved acrylic, laser engraved duralar, inkjet prints, cellophane, acrylic paint
‘album’ is an artist’s book that uses the format of a family photo album as a conceptual framework through which to examine what is celebrated, what is omitted, and what is interpretable via the social apparatus of photography.
‘album’ features scans of snapshots from my youth. Some were taken with disposable cameras, or with my first digital camera as a teenager. Some were taken by my mother. I selected photos that were not chosen to be featured in family photo albums and were instead stored in boxes and on hard drives. My book gives these ‘leftover’ photos a new life.
Iridescent cellophane features prominently in the book, both through colourful scans and pages of actual cellophane. I use it as a symbol of celebration throughout the book. The book is organized into chapters that feature various childhood experiences from my upbringing in the Okanagan: camping trips, birthday parties, forest fires, community barbecues and swimming, to name a few. Selfies and other pictures of myself make regular appearances. I grew up fat, and experienced a great deal of shame about my body as a young person. These images are a way of reclaiming and validating my physicality.
I view this piece as part of an ongoing body of work that reflects on childhood and generational transmission.