In December of 2023, I received thousands of family photos and documents from both my paternal and maternal sides. In the form of film negatives, 35mm slides, postcards, letters, and 20th-century ephemera, I’ve decided it’s a lifelong goal of mine to digitize and archive these pieces of history so future members of my family can view them, too.

The sheer number of items was startling, but also unsurprising - I’d always wondered where I got my love of photography and visual art/documentation, being the only digital artist in the family, but it turns out I was always surrounded by it growing up.

Through this project, I aim to become closer to my family and learn about those who came before me, as well as to make discoveries concerning my own identity as a person and artist. Being the absolute youngest in my family, I didn’t meet many of the people in these photographs, but I feel like I’m beginning to know them now.