Pictures that make me want to cry

Jane Domke, 1969

Today I shot pictures that make me want to cry; pictures salvaged from our house fire. In February of 2004 my Mother's farm house burned to the ground; everything was lost. The fire got so hot that it melted aluminum into puddles.

As the firemen were sifting through the rubble they found some family photos that had not been totally destroyed. Only 50 pictures survived out of the thousands that covered five generations of our family. I've been avoiding photographing the decomposing pictures because it is so depressing; but today I decided I had better do it before they are completely gone.

The picture above is of my sister Jane. I'm guessing it was taken in 1969.

I find the vivid wiggles of color on the right appealing. And the fact that it was salvaged from a house fire is conceptually interesting I could  imagine an art gallery might have an exhibit based on salvaged pictures. But for art in hospitals this would not work. Experts and common sense would say that pictrues like this would serve as a reminder of death and destruction and don't belong in hospitals.

Comments

[John Storjohann]

Two comments here..like you, I find the swirls of color very interesting..and, in fact, find the combination of swirls and burned edges very haunting. I agree that it wouldn't be appropriate in a health care setting, but the image evokes some powerful emotions, even though I've never met your sister. The second comment...is how online storage could save future generations from losing family treasures like the irreplacable images of their past. Digital images backed up online (some sites even offer at least minimal storage for free - Office Workspace Live comet to mind) could save families such as those whose lives were devasted by Katrina and Ike the compounded tragedy of losing recorded memories as well. Furniture, appliances, et. can be replaced...what leaves many families, like your own, further devasted afer such an event is the loss of what is truly irreplacable; the images of time long gone.

[Scott]

I've blogged about your experience at RememberGranny.com. Thanks for sharing this valuable reminder about preserving memories with digital media.

[kudzu fire]

sad