Dissonance
When I was born, I was the first grandchild on my mother’s side. According to my mother’s family, the circumstance around my birth was a bit untraditional. All I knew was my mom and her family, and although I was born amid a tense situation, I was surrounded by love. Growing up happy and cared for led me not to question how things were throughout my childhood. Being the only kid in the family at that time, I had a lot of time to observe all of my surroundings and watch things change. I watched my mom get married and experienced the combining of two families. Over ten years, my newfound family grew to include my stepfather and four half-siblings. This work is about finding identity within a blended family and gaining new perspectives when analyzing childhood memories and photographs.
In this project, I used archived family photographs to look back at my experiences growing up and how my family dynamic changed over the years. I manipulated the images in various ways to add layers of context that I have had throughout my life when thinking back to my childhood.
