strung together ...

In late 2021, as I sorted and sifted through the generations of family snapshots, I began to find patterns. I found a photo of my mom (1950’s), my sister (1970’s), and myself (1980’s) standing in the exact same position at around the same age. There were photos of tombstones on Memorial Day. Photos of graduations, birthdays, swimming in the summer, vacations, Christmases, etc. The milestones. Some, I’m sure are more personal to my family, upbringing, and region, but others, I knew, had to exist in everyone’s collection of snapshots.

The idea of a collective memory resurfaced when I read “Playing String Figures with Companion Species”¹ by Donna Haraway. The text talked about how string games have been played around the world for generations in some form or another throughout cultures worldwide. Without thinking, my fingers began doing the movements I learned as a child, even though I hadn’t created a figure in years. I knew there was something there.

The resulting installation connecting collective memory, snapshots, and play took place in a small room in the Forest Products Building on Purdue Campus, December 10-11, 2021. It was comprised of a series of seven shadow boxes, each housing a set of family snapshots. Different string figures were suspended overtop of the shadow boxes with wooden dowels, partially obstructing the photos from the viewer, but also acting as protection for this collection of private photographs. The walls were wheat-pasted with illustrations from the early 1900’s, depicting how to create the different figures. On the back wall, a ball of yarn, scissors, and several pre-tied loops, invited viewers to play along.