“It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.”
-Alice in Wonderland-
journal entry:
Most family portraits today are the same. Fifty people with the same shirts, arranged by the photographer so that they look like a choir. Not this portrait. I thought it would be fun to make a portrait of my family with attention to the details of each personality. Sort of like taking a family picture without giving anyone any warning. I made this “portrait” from paper scraps. I started in the middle with me and Grandpa and worked out from there. I added many things that were symbolic to me. For example, everyone is touching someone. The whole family group, three generations, is connected in some way. Central to the family group is Grandpa, holding his scriptures, symbolic of the things we have chosen to guide us and our family in this life. From above and below, guardian angels reach out to us and make themselves known to us so that we will know they are always around. One angel holds a large book with the title “Our Family History”. Little people love to look at the picture and say:
“Where am I. Where am I ? Grandma . . . where am I?”
Isn’t that a question we all ask ourselves? In the scheme of things . . . where am I ?
“I saw behind me those who had gone
and before me those who are to come.
I looked back and saw my father, and his father,
and all of our fathers,
and in front to see my son, and his son,
and the sons upon sons beyond.
And their eyes were my eyes”
-Richard Llewellyn-