What does it mean to destroy a photograph?
Not taking photographs of your children when they are young is considered a sign of neglect. We want to make the most of every moment, every smile, every success.
So why destroy it?
Is destroying a photograph, destroying a memory?
Memory is fallible. Photographs preserve moments that memory cannot.
When the memory is too weak to prove the photograph, is it real?
The photograph doesn’t capture what’s beyond outside the frame.
The loneliness;
The fear;
The addiction;
The cheating;
The screams;
The lies.
Does erasing a parent’s photo erase the self?
Digital photography has made the process of deleting a photo something inconsequential.
Deleting the photograph as an object is a completely different thing.
A photo may not represent an exact memory in the way it’s presented.
Most photos are staged.
Families are not photo albums.
Albums represent families in the eyes of others.
An album is nothing more than organized fiction.
Woven by hands that tell their own story.
Once upon a time there was a happy family.
A present father.
A mother without depression.
A great childhood.
A good marriage.
A perfect family.
Where knives are used to cut food.
Where alcohol is used to relax
Where words are used to cherish
Where violence doesn’t exist
Once upon a time.
