Judith Black: Tangible Memories

“I have concentrated for most of my career on a subject close to home… my family and self. When I began seriously photographing in 1979 as a graduate student, raising a large and young family as a single mother made it almost impossible to explore my new neighborhood to find a compelling project. Between classes, work and children, there was little energy or time left. My home became my “studio.”

Thinking about how to make sense of over 40 years of photographing my family and self, I realize that the photographs I have exhibited are a family album and a diary. They present to viewers a household with individuals, interpersonal relationships, and implied narratives. The names, dates, and occasions hint at the stories hiding just beneath the surface of the prints.

For me, though, the photos have a more complex meaning. They are actual physical memories, a way for me to hold and to remember both the pleasures and pains of being part of and raising a family. Talismans, relics, fetish objects, memory holders - they are mine to touch.”