So thanks to Jean I have read Family Snapshot by Spence and Holland, and see the relevant points that relate. Patrician Holland identifies that snapshot collections only include ‘approriate’ or ‘significant’ photographs, and so ‘family albums are about forgetting as well as remembering’ and that reflects my ideas for photocuts. The further comments Holland makes are of interest for some of my other developments, as she notes that ‘political change is embedded, rarely visible on the surface’ and also quotes from Wright (1983), ‘but the evocation is of “precious and imperilled traces” against a speeding-up of time and the all consuming power of technology’. The last point really echoing ideas about the remoteness and distancing of our technological age that my snapshots installtion was exploring, and brings Virilio back into view. An interesting read, and Annette Kuhn in the book says ‘ . . . the past is made in the present.’ alluding to the collectors’ construction of events through selection which can relate to Holland’s ‘really visible’ events outside of the family concerns and maybe ideas yet to be developed?? Where the two aspects come together?? . . . Hmm? There are some converging references here and some rethinking perhaps, in that other re-presentations could arrise. Hmm.
