When Family Photos Become Art: A Journey into Vernacular Photography

when-family-photos-become-art-a-journey-into-vernacular-photography

Panorama: Dove Sono Le Montagne takes old, forgotten family snapshots hidden in dusty boxes and reimagines them into something fresh. This book blends nostalgia with a new curatorial perspective, showcasing how even the most ordinary moments can possess real beauty and raw, authentic vibes through vernacular photography.

when-family-photos-become-art-a-journey-into-vernacular-photography

20/12/2024

By Rebecca Ceccatelli. Still life by Asia Niero.

I found you stuck to each other, accustomed to holding hands. Mountain backdrops conversed with Sardinian beaches, blending memories captured on filmmade tangible for revisiting, yet never truly seen. […] In the hope that the box will no longer feel tight, this is for all the times I created a world around you without ever really experiencing it.[1]
This is how Panorama: dove sono le montagne (simply Panorama for the friends) welcomes everyone, inviting them to explore beyond its cover and flip through the first of its 300 pages. After a highly rational title page and an index crafted with taxonomic precision, readers encounter a page of text. Notably, this is one of the only two text-containing pages of the entire book—some might even consider it blasphemous to call it a book at all.
What happens if all those boxes of photographs we all keep in our houses get organised into a curated, almost surrealistic and ironic catalogue?

Can a Grandfather Using a Camera Become an Artist Years Later?

Photographs are often preserved, at best, in binders with plastic sleeves or, at worst, left loose in various boxes. Sometimes, they remain in the original paper envelopes provided by the developer, which carry the instruction to ‘view colour photographs in indirect sunlight’. The book’s introduction refers to these photographs as “accustomed to holding hands”, captured by the curator’s family and others, spanning a period from the 1920s to the 2000s.
The decline of this habit coincides with the advent of digital photography. Now, we no longer store images in messy, forgotten, and heavy boxes but in the evanescent memory of our devices. Yet, as our memories become lost in the massive accumulation of digital data, we must ask: are our photos still regarded with the same reverence they once held when we collected them from the development studio? Also, if these photographs were once considered important enough to be developed and printed, why do they now remain forgotten at the back of our wardrobes?

From Family Snapshots to Art: The Evolution of Vernacular Photography

Since the advent of photographic devices, which expanded beyond the narrow circle of those who could afford a camera—often for work-related purposes—vernacular photography emerged as a distinct branch within the field of photography. Over time, it developed its own identity and began to enrich itself with diverse content. Photography was used for practical purposes, as a hobby, or just to capture memories on paper without artistic intentions.
Photographers soon found themselves on the same level as individuals who, armed with cameras similar to theirs, were simply skilled at pressing a button to take photographs.

If I could talk to my grandparents today and tell them that, by 2024, their position as simple users of a common tool would be elevated to that of artists, they would probably be bewildered. Who knows what their definition of being an artist was? Moreover, who can say whether they considered that little camera in their hands to be a creator of art? For them, it may have been nothing more than a functional tool for preserving memories, far removed from any artistic intention.
Panorama represents the complete erasure of the photographer’s role while simultaneously celebrating the vernacular photographic eye. It began as the final project for my second year of curatorial studies; then, it evolved into a comprehensive encyclopedia of memories and people from a family, recorded on film and developed ever since the roll was filled.

How to Curate a Box of Memories? The Process Towards the Artist Book

A “re-discovery” is how I would first describe the act of re-cataloguing everything contained in some family’s memory boxes to friends and others. However, in reality, it’s more than just a re-discovery; this has been a genuine discovery, as these images were completely unknown to me.
“I had the pleasure of encountering them at the perfect moment in my life, just as my identity as a curator was beginning to take shape alongside my studies. I instantly felt a strong need to make sense of them by cataloguing and engaging with the images, striving to understand the deeper meanings hidden beneath their surface. Through these images, I discovered aspects of the personalities of relatives, friends, and even people who remain unknown to me,” she explains. “The more I looked through them, the clearer my selection became. Like a beacon in the dark, I instinctively knew which photos would be part of my project, the ones that resonated with me on a purely intuitive level. I grouped these images into chapters with surreal titles, far from the straightforward categorisation of a typical “family photo album”— it was just spontaneous.”

when-family-photos-become-art-a-journey-into-vernacular-photography

The Power of Curatorial Design: Creating Meaning from Family Photos

The only text featured in the book is the chapter titles, marked on small side tabs along the page edges. These tabs not only help guide the reader as they turn the pages but also evoke the idea of a directory, making the organisation of the content as systematic as possible while allowing for rich interpretive layers. The chapter titled “Devices,” despite its seemingly didactic title, does more than just organise photographs taken with the trendiest devices of the time, ranging from radios to camcorders, and it includes the first and only two selfies in the box. “Devices” also highlights the tendency of people to portray themselves with the same devices that could capture their images, creating a sort of meta-narrative.

when-family-photos-become-art-a-journey-into-vernacular-photography

Similarly, “Are We Out of the Woods?” may seem like a nonsensical question when paired with the photos it contains. The pictures are clearly taken “in the woods” until the last two, where the curator’s parents are lying in the same position as their own parents once did in the fields, but now on a flowery bedspread. This raises the question of whether they are still “in the woods” or they have emerged from it, but why then do they choose to adopt the same pose? And what drives this tendency to immortalise themselves in nature?

when-family-photos-become-art-a-journey-into-vernacular-photography

Celebrating Vernacular Photography: A Tribute to Everyday Art

The choice of ring binding is intended to evoke a sense of being unfinished and continuously evolving. Each ring can be opened, allowing the order of chapters and pages to be completely reorganised. As a result, each chapter can potentially not exist at all.
The title page and colophon, written respectively in Italian and English, highlight the highlight nature of the book and its creator—someone who navigates the space between “ma” and “but,” coming from Italy and studying in English while connecting with people from all over the world.
The project’s goal is to present each photograph—originating from the vernacular, popular sphere, often hidden away in cupboards—as a true work of art. These images deserve a place in a book where they can interact with similar pieces, find their own space, and reach an audience far wider than the family to whom they rightfully belong.

when-family-photos-become-art-a-journey-into-vernacular-photography

Why Could Vernacular Photography Be Relevant Today?

Panorama is a thoughtful exploration of photography itself, examining themes of relevance and significance in a world where taking photographs has become as natural as breathing. This work celebrates the essence of vernacular photography—those unpretentious images captured with simple cameras—bringing them together in a cohesive volume intended to honour their value.
In today’s visually saturated environment, where curated perfection often dominates our screens, the raw authenticity of vernacular photography serves as a compelling reminder of the beauty found in everyday moments. This collection invites us to reconsider art through mediums not originally designed for artistic expression, challenging traditional definitions of art from within.

Rebecca Ceccatelli is a student in Arts Curating at Istituto Marangoni Firenze. Aspiring art curator, critic and journalist, she’s now Senior Editor for the I’M Firenze Digest and has participated in important collaborations with Cartier, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and Museo Salvatore Ferragamo.


1. Original text: “Vi ho trovate incollate l’una all’altra, abituate a tenervi per mano. Sfondi montani conversavano con spiagge sarde in un miscuglio di ricordi su pellicola, resi fisici per esser rivisti, ma mai veramente guardati. Mi sono presa cura di voi nel darvi un senso. Ho restituito respiro a cieli aperti e ridato la vista ad occhi curiosi.
Nella speranza che la scatola non vi sia più̀ stretta, questo è per tutte le volte che ho creato un mondo attorno a voi, senza avervi mai vissute.” Rebecca Ceccatelli, Panorama: dove sono le montagne, 2024. Self-published.

Fields of Study
Art

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