Nana’s anniversary yesterday.
Jeanie Bennie Porter Thain: a strong, funny, loving, creative, determined, wise woman, a year gone.
I still sorely miss her presence in the world and in my life – her letters, her stories, always surprising, making me laugh. But I feel her influence everyday, and I’m proud to be named after her.
I think she would be happy that her photographic archive has been the catalyst for a project which is pushing me out of my comfort zone – to find ways of connecting with new and unknown others, and to hear their stories of other families. Family was everything to Nana, the thing she valued most in her life.
The project is changing..
Away from personal, autobiographical concerns
From the’ I’ to the ‘we’
I’m going
Out the door
Into the field
Time to stop talking to myself,
and find others to tell me their stories
Time to take some risks.
Thank you Nana.
