We Are Here
We Are Here, 2013, digital photography collaged with photos from family archive
The title of this photographic essay resonates with me on many different levels. One, is that "we have arrived" as individuals and/or as a people. Another meaning states that “we are present”, consciously living in this moment. And another meaning, a statement that might come from the perspective of our ancestors, is that “we are (still) here”. Using some of my photography in conjunction with photos from our family archive, relics of the past find their way into contemporary environments.
Although their lives on earth have passed, the ancestors continue living presently through us. They live on through our language, through our stories, through our memories, through the preservation of traditions, through our characteristics, and through the legacies they have left behind. They are here. In us.