"The Stories We Carry" (2017)
When I was younger
I was going through a photo album that my parents had kept when one photo in particular caught my eye. It was an image of my dad when he was around my age in a refugee camp in Indonesia, standing there with his arms crossed in front of a series of paintings that he had done. I had never seen my dad paint; I had seen his sketching here and there, but his main priority in the States had always been working. I realized that I had never really thought about my parents outside of their roles as Mom and Dad, and that there were parts of them that I didn’t know. This moment and this photo inspired me to start my The Stories We Carry project.
In the process of collecting family photos
I started thinking about how there must be other people out there who have memorabilia that they identify with a lot, maybe something that tells a story about their lineage or a struggle that they had gone through. The idea of expressing people holding items in their hands is a literal interpretation of the stories we carry. I also have a fascination with hands, probably a result of my parents working in the manicure business, and when I look at my parents’ hands, I can almost see the stories their hands tell.
Another inspiration for The Stories We Carry
comes from an earlier idea for a passion project centered on refugee families. There are already a few photo projects that talk about the refugee experience, but not many that focus on the experiences of the second generation. It’s important to acknowledge our heritage and the legacy of the first generation, but we need to keep the momentum going and look to the present and future as well.
“If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors"
-Thich Nhat Hanh
