Amanda Lynn Peterson BFA Thesis Fall 2011

Unmasking the Façade: What do Family Albums Really Display?

In life there are many moments that will be determined as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. The good moments are ones we want to hang onto and have the ability to revisit; whereas, the bad moments are usually called growth and never talked about. The family photo album reflects this, in what one chooses to include. My intent is to deconstruct the position that the family album holds as a fact-based timeline. I intend to expose the façade: by exploring the curation process, discussing the insight other artists bring to photographing their families, exploring the history of the traditional family photo album and some social expectations these albums are to uphold. Jo Spence has written many essays on the family album and how it can be a tool in art therapy. Larry Sultan, a photographer, photographs his parents in hopes they can live forever in his images.

My visual thesis work is a family album, but a different kind of family album; it is one that breaches into the negative side of life and displays situations that would not be found in a traditional family album. The good and the bad, of my recent life, coexist in one place. My photographic work covers many topics from weddings and road trips to cancer and an attempted house break in.

37 albums

Fall 2011