Grandmothers
I started my Grandmothers project to relive memories of my late grandma Natasha and to better understand her experience of raising me by looking at other families. Visually, I was interested in conveying the complex personalities of the women I met and the tender moments they share with their granddaughters. What has been most special for me about this project is the opportunity to enter different family and cultural worlds. I'm incredibly grateful to these families for welcoming me into their homes and allowing me to witness a slice of their family lives.
Mable with great-granddaughter Frankie in Los Angeles
Mable is from Shawnee, Oklahoma and has lived for 80 years in a beautiful home she helped build in South Pasadena, just outside of Los Angeles. Her home is filled with antiques collected over the course of her life. She is full of stories of South Pasadena back when it was a railroad town.
As I entered Carmen’s home, the first thing I noticed were multi-generational family portraits dating back decades covering every wall. I could feel a sense of family history, togetherness, and pride. As we photographed, Crystal enthusiastically helped translate to and from Spanish.
Carmen and Crystal in Los Angeles
Nidia immediately struck me as the matriarch of the family. Her home is where her adult kids and their families now like to gather. Originally from Peru, she was once a nun and then spent most of her life as a stay-at-home mom and now grandma. She still does not know how to drive and relies on her family to take her places.
Nidia in Huntington Beach, California
Angela with granddaughter Ava in Los Angeles
Angela is a social worker for Los Angeles County and is just a few years away from retirement. She loves to dress in professional and traditional Cambodian attire and is an avid gardener. Ava is one of her several grandchildren.
Chiyeko in the backyard of her home in South Los Angeles
Chiyeko was born in El Centro, California and grew up on her parents’ strawberry farm in this farming town near the US-Mexico border.
During WWII her family moved to Hiroshima, Japan, where this family photograph was taken. Chiyeko is the tallest girl on the far right.
After the war, Chiyeko came to the US, married her husband, and moved to the house in South L.A. where she continued to live into old age. She raised two daughters there and and helped raise two granddaughters.