Family history can be hidden, forgotten, or difficult to find. In my family, I lost aunts to the Holocaust without a trace of a record at most likely Auschwitz but accidentally found other cousins we didn’t know were murdered on a memorial wall in Prague and learned their story. My husband’s family history included over 150 years of enslaving that was never revealed to his generation. When I became the person to go through his family objects, I found a sterling Georgian silver water urn dated 1796 and the hunt to find out why we had it was on. We learned about the first family immigrant to enslave in circa 1700, visiting plantation sites and finding objects from the early family plantation in the Charleston Musuem. I wrote an article, “A Corner Cupboard Spills Family History” about the search for Collections magazine: Volume 12, number 1, winter 2016. By 2017, Passages: An Installation in Progress began as one embellished family dress with objects hung above it and other objects placed below it.

The irony of one half of the family enslaving and the other half having family members murdered by the Nazis was an American story became my passion and I used all my research and artistic training to evolve into an installation meant to be experienced. The project expanded into many running feet of hand printed wall papers with family imagery and more embellished wedding dresses and objects. The most recent iteration included the family members I found on a memorial wall in a Prague synagogue and learning their fate.  

To date, Passages has appeared at four venues including the Maier Museum at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia, Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, InLiquid Gallery at the Crane Building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as well as the John H. Baker Gallery at West Chester University in West Chester Pennsylvania.

Details from Passages

Details from Passages

Details from Passages