All Things Forgotten is a photographic exploration of the physical and emotional loss that I have found myself in since the diagnosis of my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s. This body of work focuses on the mourning of a life that has yet to be lost, the slipping of memories in a rapid setting, and the physical sale of a place that always felt like home. Watching as my grandmother battles with Alzheimer’s, I am confronted with the gradual disappearance of her memories while she stands unknowing. My grandmother’s house grew empty of her warmth with her move into memory care and no longer is a place my family can physically return to. Sixty five years of family memories, random trinkets, and markings on the wall had been left in her absence. With these emotional pains comes the items she was forced to leave behind and my family had to decide to part with as well. While photographing this body of work I found myself gravitating towards items and places within her home that I associated with my growing up. Looking at this house through the eyes of a young adult, I found myself navigating a balance between belonging and detachment. This work dives into the collective memories of others: ones that are not only mine, but also a part of a larger understanding of where I come from. In the new age of digital photograph making, there is no physicality to the memories we make. Photographic film goes against this notion. I create new physical means to remember this moment in time, and one day, these images too will meet their point of disappearance from my memories. I invite viewers to look into the last vestige of life that my grandmother created. All Things Forgotten aims to memorialize the things that are being lost, celebrate their place in a full but foggy lifetime, and allude to the preciousness of memories. This project is dedicated to Annette Hunt, my grandmother who taught me how to make the sweetest memories in the toughest times. Each image is named for her--from her children to her clothes--I remember this all for her.
