Embodying the Family Album

Abstract

The chapter approaches the subject of personal memory vs. historical memory within photographic family albums. It explores the possibilities of investigating photographic archives through embodiment and performance. The albums in question belonged to the author's grandparents and represent a period in Portugal's past scarred by one of the longest dictatorships in history (Portuguese New State 1933-1974). The chapter explores the relevance of photographic family albums within unique historical times. The research analyses the photographs in the family albums through an iconographic approach, focusing specifically on images of the grandmothers. Representative of two women's lives during this historical period, both women lived under the same dictatorial regime, but one on mainland Portugal and the other in the Portuguese overseas and colonial territories (India, 1951-61 and Mozambique 1962-75).