Once Removed

Once Removed is based on the sparse photographic archive of my grandmother, Margaret Jurigian, an Armenian immigrant who lived in Boston at the turn of the 20th century. There is little information on Margaret save for the sketchy anecdotes passed down from generations.

Writing under the guise of Margaret, I narrate her life through fictitious and fragmented journal entries, video works, a book and ultimately culminating in a performance piece. Photographs culled from my personal family archive, as well as appropriated public access images serve as inspiration for the text. The juxtaposed text and image begin to cross the boundaries of truth and daydream, imagining a life that was never full realized.

This project continues my interest in family archives and the interior worlds that I lovingly occupy with these ghosts.