Installation at the Southeast Museum of Photography, February 19 - May 6, 2020

The Alice Project

Photographs of loved ones are tantalizing because they promise to give you something, but the more you look at them, the less they deliver. They intensify a feeling of wanting to be connected, but cannot satisfy it. In this project, I am trying less to capture a specific memory of someone, than the process of forgetting

The Alice project originated with a trove of photographs and a cache of poems that I inherited from my late aunt, Alice Gonçalves Sousa, the last living relative of my parents' generation. My reclusive aunt was the family archivist who saved photographs and material objects from past generations. Studio photographs are mixed in with snapshots, many are of people I never met, but even those I knew are like ghosts from another era. After her death, I discovered that Alice was a poet and her poems reveal the anger, disappointments, and regrets of her life. From this discovered material, I began The Alice Project that includes a series of Portraits and an Octet of Film Poems inspired by her words. A selection of the Film Poems are available here.

Al & Alice

Link to Lenscratch Interview

Alvaro

“Alvaro” is based on a poem written by Alice Goncalves Sousa about the death of her brother. It is a meditation on loss and embodies the Portuguese spirit of Fado, the urban folk music of Portugal that accompanies a portion of the film. The poem expresses the degree to which Alice was devastated by the death of her brother. The film includes imagery taken from inherited archival photographs, as well as material objects, furniture, clothing, the things that are left behind after a person passes. Nature and the seasons are a metaphor for the fragility of life and human emotions and attempt to communicate the loss that one feels when a loved one is gone. This film is a tribute to my Aunt Alice and Uncle Alvaro.

Excerpt from “Alvaro”