Quiet Life Vol. 2

The Albums She Kept

A long-term photographic project built from the family albums made and kept by my mother.

And an archive about memory, authorship and the pictures that remain after the people who made them.

Before I made photographs myself, my mother had already filled albums with a family history I was still learning how to read.

The Albums She Kept is built from the photographs she made and preserved over many years. I am scanning and sequencing the archive while trying to understand what it records, what it leaves out and what it means to answer somebody else’s photographs.

Nighttime scene of rocky landscape with large rocks in the foreground and smaller rocks on the hillside, trees without leaves, and cloudy sky in the background. 
Across the Water
A mountain seen across the water, photographed through bare branches. I don’t know the date or the full story of the visit, but the image has survived in the album.
A historic castle or cathedral with prominent spires, situated on a hill, with houses and trees at the base and a cloudy sky in the background. 
Mont Saint-Michel
Mont Saint-Michel photographed from across the bay. It is one of the clearer travel images in the archive, even though the surrounding story has become less certain.
A beach scene with sailboats and yachts, a long bridge over the ocean, and a distant landmass under a clear sky. 
By the Sea
A beach and pier under bright light. The albums contain many photographs like this: places recorded because they were part of a day worth remembering.

These photographs were made by my mother.

My role is to preserve, scan and sequence the archive, then to respond to it through my own photographs and writing. I am not presenting her pictures as my own work.

The project is about what remains when the original context becomes incomplete, and what happens when one generation looks back through another person’s photographs.

Project Roadmap

The Archive

The first stage is preserving and understanding the photographs my mother made and kept. The albums are being scanned, catalogued and placed back into sequence while I work out what can still be recovered from the archive.

The next stage is selecting images, shaping the sequences and making my own photographs and writing in response to what the albums contain, and what they leave out.

The Response

FUNDING & PRODUCTION

The project is currently at grant application stage. Funding would support the remaining scanning, editing and production work needed to turn the archive into a finished series of books.

The stages overlap. The archive is still being scanned while the selection and structure of the books continue to develop.

The Albums She Kept is not a finished collection being presented after the fact. It is an active project, shaped by the photographs that survive, the gaps in the record and the decisions I make as I work through it.

The eventual form will be developed carefully rather than rushed. The aim is to make something that preserves my mother’s photographs as her work while allowing my own response to exist alongside them.

If you would like to support the project, share the work or discuss an editorial or speaking opportunity, get in touch.

Contact Sam
A street scene with a green and white classic car parked on the curb, and a building with a porch decorated with flags and bunting, possibly a shop or cafe, with people standing outside and a large tree nearby.
A large dam with concrete spillways and a highway bridge running across it, with green forested hills in the background.
Beach with sailboats, some sailboats with colorful sails, and a pier extending into the water in the background under a clear sky.
Hilly landscape with dry grass and sparse leafless trees in the foreground, a body of water in the middle distance, and a partly cloudy sky overhead.
A street scene with cars parked along the street, pedestrians walking, a cyclist in motion, signs for businesses, and a clear blue sky.
A red train with silver siding and large windows parked at a station platform, with a cloudy sky above.
Epcot theme park entrance with a large geodesic sphere and decorative star-shaped and arrow elements on top.
A historic castle built on a hilltop, overlooking a town beneath, with a tall spire and gothic architectural details, under a cloudy sky.
A group of black and white cows lying on green grass in a field with trees, a utility pole, and a distant farm landscape in the background.
The Blackpool Tower in Blackpool, England, with a sandy beach and people walking or relaxing nearby, and a nearby building with a clock and shops.
A scenic view of a winding road through rolling hills under a partly cloudy sky.
Close-up of a textured surface that appears to be a piece of fabric or woven material in dark and light shades.
A rugged mountain landscape with steep dark rocky slopes, a small waterfall in the foreground, and cloudy sky overhead.
A landscape scene showing a body of water with a mountainous terrain in the background. In the foreground, there are remnants of a destroyed building with some leafless trees nearby.
Image of a large boat in a waterway with splashing water at the front, surrounded by palm trees and buildings, with dark stormy clouds overhead during the late evening or early morning.

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