Neo Serafimidis: OBJECT/MEMORY (POWER)

In 2003, photographer Neo Serafimidis moved his mother from their family home in Fresno, California, to a small apartment near his family in the East Bay. It was traumatic for all involved. For Neo, the dissolution of the family home represented a lost connection to his own history. In early 2009, he had to move her, by then 90 years old, to a memory care facility. He resolved that the inevitable liquidation of most of their remaining possessions could not pass without documentation. In the few days he had in which to pack up and clear out her life, he photographed almost every single item as it went into a box or out to the curb. The result is a catalog of power objects, each laden with associations, both personal and universal, embodying memory and family history.