The Family album: Narrating the stories of the family and pasts.

My great grandfather.

The family album can narrate a story; invigilated by the albums key narrator. The key family album holder is the key narrator whom decides the trajectory of the family memories through the album.

‘The photographs have other roles in the family history which are almost as important. It is a means by which the family historian can not only get to know a long- deceased ancestor, but can begin to identify with the living relative – even a parent or grandparent – who is not easily recognizable as the dashing young man or the beautiful young woman portrayed in the family album’ (Steel and Taylor, 1984, p.9).

The owner of the album also known as the key narrator has the role of narrating the family’s memories and history. The owner of the album does not look for the truth in the album instead they give it their own biased narrative by recalling up their own personal memories, with their own experiences mixed with collections of their collective memories. The narrator can recall a deceased member of the album who they may or may not have met in their lifetime. Holland (1991) describes how the albums key narrator constructs ‘their own versions of family history, in negotiation with the ideal.’ By examining this passage of writing we can conclude that the albums key narrator not only narrates a version of events that they might consider ideal but also, they may construct a series of photographs with little knowledge of a true timeline of their events.

‘Difficult individuals like divorced spouses and nonconforming siblings tend to be absent’ (Spence and Holland, 1991, p.7) from the album; we can examine ethics that surround the family album. Within my own family album there are little photographs of my father as my mother removed the majority of them due to their divorce, but care has been taken to retain traces or glimpses of him in the past as part of the family narrative. My mother has replaced the majority of my father’s photographs with her new partner my step farther. This shows how the album alters in line with life events. ‘Sickness, disease and disability are barely visible’ (Spence and Holland, 1991, p.7). However, there are some photographs of my great grandfather who had a stroke, these images have been directed to hide the affected area of the stroke. For the split second that the shutter is open the family conform to the ideal. In that moment the true narrative is concealed and an ideal presented.

Pictures held within the family album are spontaneously manufactured to exhibit an ideal representation of a family whom may suppress their problems. Holland asserts that the family album was never expected to be appreciated by outsiders, yet there was a need to produce ‘correct’ pictures as if the audience was the public at large. This statement is ambiguous in the notion that each individual album holder brings new perspectives and a verity of different ethics regarding their own experiences and their past family lives.

References:

Spence, J. and Holland, P. (1991). Family snaps. London: Virago.

Steel, D. and Taylor, L . (1984). Family history in focus. Guildford : Lutterworth Press