These photographs depict family heirlooms, such as furniture, artworks and other objects, that have been carefully wrapped and stored away for decades. They examine the nature of sentimentality and our impulse to preserve the past: through acts of protection, we attempt to hold onto former chapters of our lives and those of past generations, assigning enduring values to inherited histories. Yet in their prolonged concealment, these objects take on a paradoxical role. While they offer a sense of continuity and permanence, they also become detached from their original contexts, accumulating new meanings in absence. No longer active within the life of the family that preserved them, they begin to author a quiet, secondary history – one defined not by use, but by neglect, displacement, and the passage of time.
Installation View
Installation view of the exhibit at the Galerie Monika Wertheimer in Switzerland in 2013.
© Corina Gamma
After The Nightwatch
Limited Edition, Chromogenic Prints
Print Size: 85 x 85 cm (33 x 33 inches)
Paper size: 110 x 170 cm (43 x 66 inches)