Growing up close to my immediate and extended family has led me to explore the history that has shaped me. In Allium Cepa, I study my lineage through family archives of images, personal belongings, and first-hand stories from my 93-year-old grandmother and others. I have the privilege to revisit the house my aunts and mother group up in, that we now spend our family gatherings at, in San Antonio, TX. My mother’s family history began when the generations before her came to America to become onion farmers, and involves various cities in the US, as well as Germany, where my grandfather was in the military. Alongside historical photographs are recent photographs I created of my family using various cameras, including my grandparent’s old vintage cameras. I am interested in centering the project around my grandmother’s home, depicting growth and time. Understanding my family history opens the door to a new world of understanding the people surrounding me as I learn about their life stories.
This work is essential because it allows me to learn how family trajectories effect our identities by studying the details of my family, the places they have been, and the events they have experienced that led them to where they are today. I enjoy studying the ideas of Bell Hooks and Allen Sekula in their writings about family photos and archival images. Examining portrayals of people we have never met and know nothing about and then creating a story about them proves to be a uniquely human experience that allows us to gain a deeper connection with images of others.