When my Dad passed away 20 years ago, I found boxes in his attic of old family pictures and letters written in beautiful, nearly illegible script. I put it all away until this past year when I cleared out a dusty corner of my attic. Reading the old letters and deciphering the stories that they held was mesmerizing. I began to link events with photographs and understand some of the bits of family lore I learned at the dinner table back in the '60s – a point in time when I really didn't care about ancient history because I was much more interested in making my own.
"The Family Tree" is a work of art that I created to explore and exorcise some of the strong emotions in those letters and stories. With a well-documented family tree that goes back to the late 1700s, there is quite a lot to unpack. Somehow, in the process of making this piece, I felt some of the weight of time lift and soften with newfound understanding.
