Abstract:
Family photo albums are places where memories are created and fixed (Chalfen, 1987CHALFEN, Richard. Snapshot versions of life. Bowling Green: State University Popular Press, 1987.). They consist mainly of photographs and other kind of visual material (postcards, tickets, etc.), as well as more or less extensive captions and comments. Traditionally, the pictures are organized in a booklet, that is in a sequential order which implicitly is based on a pictorial as well as narrative structure of presenting and creating a ‘family frame’ (Hirsch, 1997HIRSCH, Marianne. Family frames: photography, narrative, and postmemory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997[2002]./2002). How a specific image of ‘family’ emerges, grounded in experience and conventions, when creating and looking at a family photo album? Focusing on this general question, in this article the analysis of a family album is presented. Hereby the methodical way of interpreting a pictorial self-presentation will be made visible. The results of this analysis are combined and contextualized by a biographic-narrative interview.
Keywords:
Narrative interview; Picture; Photo album
