My brain is still in a bit of a fog from yesterday, probably from the combination of bidding farewell to my grandmother, who has always been a presence in my life until now, and from the day-long socializing. I haven’t felt like I need to weep, but the enormity of the day began to weigh on me as soon as my cousin bid me farewell and left me to travel the rest of the way home on my own. I wasn’t expecting that.
My 12-photo series from the day also surprises me. I hadn’t had that in mind at all when I began making photos of the day. I have friends who aren’t familiar with African-American church/funeral traditions, so the photos and the video snippets I made of the day will be an intimate look into how black church folks celebrate the lives of their dead. But more than that, I have a sense that I want people to see this, to see how some of us mourn, to view our humanity. I don’t yet know why this is so important to me.
I haven’t yet processed the videos, but I will need to add them to the gallery before I make it public on my website. If I was preparing for a physical exhibit (which I’d love to do with these photos some day), I would have each of the three videos playing on its own monitor as part of the installation.
