The Women In My Family | Identity, Home & Traditions

Photographer Deedra Baker is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the project ‘Ties That Bind’. To see Deedra’s body of work, click on any image.

Ties That Bind explores the nexus of family through three generations of females within my familial relations. Through portraits, environmental still life, and landscapes, this series examines the interconnectedness between my mother, three sisters, two nieces, and myself. As an extension of the traditional family archive of snap shots, Ties That Bind uses color photographs, video, and a one-of-a-kind artist’s book to explore the relationships between the women by examining family traditions, rituals, and the connection to a homeplace—the central or family home.

Ties That Bind examines ways that our identities interweave and manifest as a result of experiences together at our family home in rural Kansas. Inspired by Patricia Kline’s statement that “For most of us our identities are very much tied to where we grew up,” environmental still life and landscape images made within my family’s house and land reflect the visceral connection between the females and the land, home, and familial keepsakes and objects.