My work documents the traditional customs and foods treasured by my family as part of our Bukovina heritage. The Bukovina, a region where many Ethnic Germans lived during the Austro-Hungarian empire, lies in Romania and part in the Ukraine. In my investigation of my family’s traditions I have become interested in what remains of the Bukovina’s culture in Romania and in the other countries to which it's inhabitants have emigrated.

Over the past four years I have photographed the foods and traditions in my family and in Romania, Germany and Kansas. I am using natural light and a shallow depth of field to portray a raw sense of time and place in my photographs. I am combining the photographs into narratives on black mat-board to illustrate the different aspects of the Bukovina culture. These narratives pay homage in their appearance to the family scrapbook.

Photography