By Blood, Marriage, or Memory

(2019)

‘By Blood, Marriage or Memory’ explores themes of family, place and legacy. It is an expression of identity shifting over time and generations. It is an expression of my family formation shifting across diaspora. This work considers the power dynamics, beauty and emotion present in these relationships. This is a collection of photographs I made in collaboration with my aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and grandparents. It pays homage to the bonds we have formed beyond bloodlines. Bonds formed by blood, marriage and memory. These images were made in our homes in Queens, New York, Whispering Pines, North Carolina, Coopers Hill, Jamaica, and Shutesbury, Massachusetts. I photographed all of these places to capture the impressions ‘place’ has made in the story of our family. We have lived in many places and keep our collective time by recalling each place. Homes are what we build in each other. How we live in them and where they are rooted expressions of who we are.