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Family Portraits: The Reconstruction of “Family Time” Through Generations
- Author(s):
- Intaglio Journal (view group) , Yijing Li
- Date:
- 2023
- Group(s):
- Intaglio Journal
- Subject(s):
- Photography, Artistic, Vernacular photography
- Item Type:
- Article
- Permanent URL:
- https://doi.org/10.17613/mamt-3595
- Abstract:
- Marianne Hirsch’s concept of “liquid time” states that photographs are not fixed into static permanence but remain dynamic and unfixed as they acquire new meanings in new circumstances. I had not considered this concept until I began going through family photographs after my grandfather passed away. There I was, sitting on the sofa in my grandparents’ house, enabled by these photographs to perceive an odd thing—dining scenarios in my family photographsall represented the same behaviour of people holding cups of soft drinks, “clinking”glasses with or toasting each other, and smiling when the photographerpressed the camera shutter. No one considered this behaviour peculiar because it had already become a habit of my family’s dining culture even though my grandfather never drank soft drinks because of his diabetes. Four family photographs present dining scenarios from the 1980s to 2020. These four portraits include three print photographs and one digital photograph, and were taken at different times, by different photographers, at different locations. Within a span of forty years, these four photographs showcase a changing family performance.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 10 months ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
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familyportraits-yijing-li.pdf