THE IDENTITY WITHIN MEMORY: 

Installation / Video / Sound 

3' x 7' x 8' 

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The installation uses projected family images from Kodak film slides in order to tell personal histories through the narratives of my French grandmother who was born during WWII. Playing with the video is two separate audio channels, one tells stories from my Meme’s experiences of growing up during WWII -- hiding a Jewish family in the basement, her father who lost everything he owned. The other tells stories of how my grandparents met, fell in love at the army base in France, and their experiences together when coming to America. The work serves as a critique of the ways museums use photographs and family histories in order to recontextualize the past with a sense of historical empathy. The two audios can be interpreted as this representation of one story, while acknowledging the absences of another's identity beyond the events established. This can further be related to how I personally have recontextualized my grandparents' past memories (that I was not even a part of) to be a part of my own sense of nostalgia. With this, the installation of a hallway becomes this embodied chamber of family identity that also serves as a spiritual passageway for viewers.