Kuhn discusses the act of memory or remembering frequently within her book. Old photographs hold so much history and are “potentially interminable” in the way that questions can always be raised and there is always more to look into. Kuhn establishes that this act of remembering might not be directly linked with our own physical memories. “What interests me more is how it is that images and sounds of from, or referring to ‘the past’ – from a past indeed that precedes my own lifetime – can feel so familiar ; and how this sense of recognition might connect with the activity of remembering, at both a personal and a collective level.” (Kuhn, A. 1995, Page 107) This bringing the found, or discovered memories into the forefront of the mind. Creating a connection that can only be achieved using this family archive of photographs.
After Annette Kuhn revisited her own family archive for the production of this book she offered six theses to concisely conclude the lessons she learnt from her memory work. These are: 1. Memory shapes our inner worlds 2. Memory is an active production of meanings 3. Memory texts have their own formal conventions 4. Memory texts voice a collective imagination 5. Memory embodies both union and fragmentation 6. Memory is formative of communities and nationhood.
Collectively, through Kuhn’s discoveries I have understood that there are many different approaches we can take when looking at the family photogrphaph. There also many different outcomes that the family photograph can produce. But it is all about how we contextually look at the image. Thinking about the photograph as a part of the family archive. And how this is crucial to the remembering of the past. Whether yours or someone else’s. This connection is still evident.
When looking at this in relation to my own work, I can try and tell the story, but still keeping an element of it secret, as if not to give the whole story away and revealing it to the world. But rather to let the viewer decide and gain their own connection with the piece and let the connection with the family archive become a vital element of the photograph. Almost to the extent that they will believe it is their own and connect with it on a more personal level.
- Annette, K. (1995) Family Secrets: acts of memory and imagination. New York: Verso Books.
- Kuhn, A. (2007) Photography and cultural memory: a methodological exploration, Visual Studies, Volume 22, Issue 3, Page 283 – 290
- Zalis, E. (2009) Annette Kuhn and Memory Work: Reflections on ‘Family Secrets’ (book review & personal essay). Available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/16202155/Annette-Kuhn-and-Memory-Work-Reflections-on-Family-Secrets-book-review-personal-essay#scribd (Accessed: 15 March 2015)
© Kirstie Wilkinson