I am pleased to announce that work from Balancing Cultures is included in the new publication, Memory Orchards, edited by Gordon Stettinius, founder of Candela Books.

Memory Orchards presents a broad survey of family experience—through highs and lows, through lust and loss—creating a survey of work that reflects our understanding of “family” in this moment. The work is derived from long-term documentary projects, from archive-based explorations, from mundane interactions to moments of intimacy, from family snapshots to artful portraits. While the motivations of any given photographer are always distinctly individual, there are some foundational ideas which persist and are shared widely. Some artists write of their desire to remember—to document their own peculiar and beautiful realities. Others write of their desire to share their experience in hopes of adding to larger conversations about representation or identity. Taken as a whole, this engaging collection of work is complex and personal but deeply relatable.

We find it easy to relate to family photographs, even when those depicted are strangers. In part, because photography suggests the truth of a situation, we are lured into believing we are learning about the subjects and, possibly, something about the photographers as well. But photos of family also vibrate at a universal frequency. We see vulnerable children or affectionate partners, and we can see ourselves and our loved ones there. It is the same for those images of aging relatives. Because those aging relatives are also our relatives, or even, ourselves.

Memory Orchards

Essays from Rebecca Senf, PhD, Chief Curator at the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ, and Andy Grundberg, independent critic, curator, writer, and educator. Edited by Gordon Stettinius, founder and senior director of Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA. Designed by Jeff Louviere, New Orleans, LA. Printed in Barcelona. Production coordinator is Matt Harvey, formerly of Aperture.