Portraits of Family by DAW

Portraits of Family

A series to celebrate my family, and strengthen our bonds. With this series I reconnect to learn, and find joy in who they are now. We gain a better understanding of ancestral lineage, and create a modern family photo album for posterity. From this we receive confidence to better represent, and live our truth on through the generations.

I’ll share selections of this series publicly to tell our story, as we know it, to promote the value of knowing and preserving your ancestral lineage, and for the benefit of those who can relate.

Grandma Joyce

This series begins with the elders. My maternal grandma, and the eldest that I know of, Grandma Joyce. I lived under her roof from late junior high through senior high school, and even as an adult a time or two. I know her to be caring, hard working, religious, convivial, and yet she can mean business, and be stern if necessary.

I recorded two interviews of my grandma Joyce speaking about her life, and her recollections of our family history. Here we hear some of her story through her words.

I appreciated her patience while I experimented and adapted myself to the task of this project. I was out of practice with the craft, and unsure what I wanted this to be. Many shots including an entire interview were lost. These shots are from our first of three meetings at her home in Garner, North Carolina beginning in 2021.

That house in Westbury NY, where I partly grew up in is no longer in the family, but some of the original furniture is kept until this day. The fabric of some of the living room furniture has a very familiar pattern. There is a shot of a sofa's floral pattern.

As I better understand my family history, and my story, my present is enlightened by the knowledge. I get that I’m part of many lineages, that I’m not simply Black, or African American, or Jamaican. My family identity is diverse, and made complicated due to the social construct of racial identity, and systemic racism.

As my grandmother recalls "My father’s father could have been Mr. Davis, the slave owner. There was a picture of Mr Davis and my grandmother, and when they left to come to New York, they left it on the wall. They didn’t want to bring it."

I see the present as the history of the future. Knowing what came before can be useful to determine paths forward. We can decide what and what not to continue with, and how we can add on. We get to own our stories, and take joy in telling and re-telling them. I invite you to connect, and reconnect, and create great history.

Next I'll visit my paternal grandmother, and I'll be better prepared.