BYFA

 IMAGE OF HOME: REIMAGINING FAMILIAR SPACES THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY

Yazmin Bell

A Precious Cadence

For this particular project I decided to document my daily involvement with my grandmother during my time at home, away from college. Through the laughs, memories and smiles comes lessons. Lessons that I’ve been taught, lessons that I've learned just by observing and following my path-lights. Values, morals and principals instilled in me at a young age that helped guide me and allowed me to stay focused, despite the adversity — my path-lights. Yes, my path-lights, referring to my grandmother and my great-grandparents, who taught me the great, rich history from which we originate. Who taught me to thrive and go beyond measures along with the significance and beauty of being a highly melanated individual, and the powers that come along with that. How to radiate higher, seeing things for what they are and avoiding all things that do not contribute to my success; how to plant only good seeds and to release things that do not serve me. My path-lights. They led the way for me to follow, assisting me in overcoming my barriers. They taught me that the absence of chaos is order and to always be my true, divine, feminine self through balance, harmony and order — and for that, I thank you. Thank you for building a strong foundation for our family and being the glue that holds us together. Throughout this process I captured stillness, peace, love, brilliance, hardships, journeys, memories, aspects of my family-life and a legacy that continues.

Keziah Edgerson

Family During a Time of Boredom

Normally I’m not in the house as much as I have been since the quarantine was issued.  This series explores how my family has been handling life together indoors.  We’ve been staying occupied through separate interests on our own time as well as family activities in our time together.  One of the things my family has done to pass time together is create shadows on the walls. We also have even had days where we ate dinner together, which does not normally happen.  Through this series, I hope to show the feeling of being cooped up and share how my family has been dealing with boredom and our relationships with one another during quarantine.

Rachel Fink 

See You Tomorrow

This photo collection was created to examine my feelings of time, passing both forwards and backwards during this time of isolation. While this workshop is titled “Images of Home,” I am quarantined in an apartment that is not my own, yet has many ties to my past and future. For instance, the couch I now sleep on, disheveled and covered in blankets and laundry, was once one of the most pristine features of my grandmother’s house. The apartment itself is minutes away from my sister’s university, which will be mine next year.

In this way, my image of home draws me both forwards and backwards, which is a theme I employed throughout the collection, regarding myself and the several people I am living with. I try to explore both movement and development, as well as stagnance and boredom, in the hopes of recording these experiences for my future self, as a reassurance that most everything is temporary.

Chardina’e Hosear

Because Being Together Is Enough

For me, documentary photography has always come with great responsibility, not just to tell the story honestly and with empathy, but also to make sure the right people hear it. When you photograph somebody who is in pain or discomfort, they trust you to make sure the images will act as their advocate. I’ve learned from this group that you can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life. I’ve always believed that photography is a way to shape human perception. Photography to me is catching a moment which is passing and which is true. I think dreaming and believing is what leads to good photos. The magic of photography is that you can capture an instant of a second that couldn’t exist before and couldn’t exist after. It’s almost like a car accident. Photography’s always like that. I think it’s about finding out what can happen in the frame. Putting four edges around some facts can change the viewer’s idea of truth.

In these images, I show my own family and home.  I tell the story of my family’s legacy and explore the idea of memory, especially through contextualizing images of family members who have passed (in color) with current images (in black and white).  Through current and archival photos, I show my past, present, and future home.

Twi McCallum

Bored Chores

As a full-time freelance artist prior to the zombie apocalypse, also known as COVID-19, staying home so much wasn’t very new to me. In my field, I can go months working from home until it’s time to be scheduled at a theater or a studio and then I’m traveling or physically reporting to work for weeks at a time. At the conclusion process of my photo series, it will be 6 weeks since I have been on lockdown, turning into a zombie myself. This isolation has come with ups and downs of laziness and messiness, organizing and reorganizing. On social media, there have been many viral jokes about how a lot of us are spending so much time sleeping, yet we manage to put our homes in shambles and as a result we are spending just as much time cleaning up. Plus, I want to highlight the importance of doing things that are mundane like cleaning my stove, tasks that every human does such as brushing their teeth, or even something boringly tedious like washing my hair or doing a puzzle. The biggest struggle in this art project was loathing the repetition. I’ve spent most of my time at my significant other’s apartment which is tiny and I’m often here alone. Welcome to my home and the chores that I cannot escape.

Photo Book Available