The Autopsy is a project I have created that involves making collages by cutting, manipulating, rearranging and reconfiguring family artifacts from my mother and step-father who lived in the 1960’s and 70’s. During that time they lived a separate life, filled with a desire for recognition, glamor, and influence. The reality was as empty as a photograph without a subject and their lives were eventually upended by alcoholism, abuse and suicide. The Autopsy cuts open the myth of their story and removes layers of the past to dissect the historical corpse of a family.

I am inspired by these photographs and documents discovered after my mother’s death. My goal is to unravel the manufactured myth of their lives through the process of art-making and to illustrate the transformative possibilities of laying open the evidence of loss and isolation.

From the process of working with my family photographs I have begun to explore photographs and artifacts from other families. I cut and layer silhouettes, textures, photographs and fragments of found texts to explore new iterations of the family.