The film negatives used for this collection were taken from a 1940 party album. The men from the negatives were future WW2 soldiers, unknowingly waiting for the attack on Pearl Harbor in order to enlist. Most of the men in these pictures likely didn’t survive the war. They have been almost entirely cut out of the pictures, ethereally hovering above the negatives, as their companions look on at their empty shadows left behind.
This work is meant to represent memory, specifically the memory of those lost in war. Their deaths over 70 years ago are represented by the holes left in the negatives, and their places lost in society. The only thing keeping the memories of these men from fading into obscurity is the pictures we have of them today, and likewise the only reason the cutouts haven’t drifted off is due to their firm footing in the negatives. Certain images have the hands of lovers still attached to the departed men, representing the parts of other people the lost take with them.
With this work, I hope to show the importance of photography and the role it plays in preserving our history.