feminely
feminely:
[fem-nin-lee] 1. a blended faminly portrait, representing the matriachal women in my family. 2. an installation peice. 3. a play on words: combination of feminine and family.
The population is ever growing within families. As the number grows in mine, the curiosity of comparing features and finding similarities in characteristics is a hot topic at gatherings. These conversations provoke the thought of how our strong differences make us so similar. I’ve had the blessing of knowing what my ancestors look like because my mother is a genealogist. She has collected stories, documents, photos, and relics. I’ve inherited her love of family history. So in honor of my mother, who has given me her forename, I have constructed a celebratory, installation piece. I find that the women of my family are strong and powerful individuals, so I wanted to show a combined portrait compositing and restoring photos of the matriarchal women of my family. This is to demonstrate the nature of genetics and the evolution of facial features.
Nona Julianne Thornton 16 October 1991 Age: 17 Photo Taken: 2007
This is the headshot the week before I started school at Savannah College of Art and Design.
Nona Knecht Thornton *mother 12 March 1959 Age: 17 Photo Taken: 1976
One of Nona Knecht’s engagement photos with Mike Thornton.
Sandra Dittmore Knecht
*Grandmother 25 April 1955 Age: 25
Sandra Knecht at her sister, Marlene’s wedding. Marlene is her younger sister, who is a twin.
Barbara Wallace Dittmore *great-grandmother 16 May 1911 Age: 19 Photo Taken: 1929
Original photo of her highschool graduation, in Driggs, Idaho.
Margaritte Little Wallace *g-g-grandmother 2 April 1874 Age: 19 Photo Taken: 1893
Howard and Margaritte Wallace’s wedding photo was taken by Charles R. Savage. A very famous photographer favored by Brigham young(Howards good friend).
Martha Taylor Little *g-g-g-grandmother 5 August 1843 Age: 35 Photo Taken: 1878 **earliest photo found, because of the availability of cameras at this time.
Her husband was a pony express rider while she was a post mistress in Idaho. Also, she is the niece of Brigham Young.
The portraits are digitally printed onto silk charmeuse, a gauzy like material, so that the negative and white space is translucent enough to layer ontop of one another. This allows the faces to blend together to form the average female face of my family. Our faces printed on this thin fabric represents the layers of skin that makes our bodies tough—thick skinned.
2014