words from Priya Suresh Kambli
Spanning two decades, “Archive as a faithful Companion”, is a personal photographic project, grounded in the interventions with my family photographs. These photographs brought with me from India to the United States when I was 18 years old, include family photographs taken by my father, taken in Indian portrait studios, and my parents’ wedding albums. My move, triggered by the death of both parents, marked my permanent separation from my sister; I came to the United States alone carrying my inheritance packed in a suitcase that weighed 45 kilograms. In this work, I have revisited, rephotographed, recontextualized and re-gendering my archive (every photograph in my archive was made by a man) to create work in the context of migrant narratives and feminist practice.
Thoughts on the lab
I loved every minute of it and it helped me understand how I could accomplish artistic goals via residency programs.