The Veteran’s Archive

The entirety of my point of view on my great-grandpa Norman is compiled through generational story and the photographic archive, two methods of remembrance which fail to give me a full understanding of a man I never met. Within The Veterans Archive, I am assembling new narratives from my great-grandpa’s archive, playing into the shortcomings of the medium, and embracing my speculation and imagination as both kin and curator. His archive spans approximately 15 years of photographs, from his time serving in the RCAF in WWII, to the late 1950s when he abruptly stopped photography. In the series, I re-photograph his archive using a light table, revealing hidden documentation on the backs of the photos. This highlights the materiality of the photograph, emphasizing not only the content within the picture, but the writing and stamps on the back, the fibre of the paper, and the creases and tears on the print. 

The curated images are accompanied by snippets of conversation with my grandmother, which disclose context of Norman’s life told from her point of view. Because Norman stopped photography when my grandma was only a small child, even her memory of his archive is hazy, leading to speculation from not only me, but my grandma as well. Within the series, I insert my own photographs into the greater narrative of Norman’s archive, acting as a direct form of our lineage while also being an act of subversion, splicing the narratives, notions and motives of my own photographs into his. My photographs serve as reflection on both Norman’s photos and stories from my grandma, allowing me to sit with, deliberate and react to the relationship between his images and her memory. Alongside the new groupings and photographs, I insert close up macro photomontages into the series. These look at the punctum of an image, investigating what an image alludes to, and where I perceive Norman’s character. These point to something beyond the image while digging into abstraction, looking at what small details of his photos pique my interest as both curator and kin, and provide an outlet for my imagination to travel, creating new stories that may or may not be true.