TJWalter's Art Pile

My family has experienced several losses over the last few years. We've spent a lot of time going through
old photographs, some more poignant than others. I imagine every family has pictures like these. "The one
of so-and-so with the sunflower," or "That picture of dad in the hat," and everyone knows which picture, which hat. In reminiscing with my siblings, I realized the memories and emotions we had looking at these images didn't always match. They had context I didn't have, or vice-versa. They had stories I didn't know. The same picture could mean many different things. They became personal Rorschach tests.

I recreated these pictures from our collective past using only the most basic shapes and lines, seeking the critical parts, the bones of the photograph, the bare minimum needed for image recognition. Sometimes the posture alone gave it away. Others were very detail specific. It was the eyes or the expression that made the picture -"that"- picture. Some were defined by color. They were unrecognizable without that particular shade of yellow. In the end, I had outlines of moments for us to color in from memory.