Annette Kuhn’s book Family Secrets Acts of memory and Imagination was recommended to me by my tutor. It is an accessible, semi-autobiographical look through both through her own family photograph album and those images that help to form collective memory; both memoir and cultural analysis through photographs.

A though-provoking read, the book speaks of the editing out from the family photograph album of events that do not fit the unspoken family narrative, of how the album is an edited ‘public face’ of the family that conceals secrets and undesirable events. The family album, she says, is not or the purpose of showing that one was once there but how we once were; an evocation of memory. I wonder if this is true today in the digital age? I feel that, in a world of social media and digitisation, the family photograph is intended more to promote the digital self, to create a self-centred ‘public face’ that is more about the individual than a family.

In her chapter on the Queen’s Coronation Kuhn notes the ‘vulgar’ rituals around public ceremonial events, of how collective memory and British culture is formed by these shared moments. I remember vividly the Queen’s silver jubilee of 1977, of dressing up, of garden parties, bunting and three legged races. These memories are part of the collective national culture but also part of my family’s narrative; the memory of my four year old sister biting a chunk out of a drinking glass triggered by photographs of the day but of course not recorded itself.

Kuhn notes sociologists Edward Shils and Michael Yound describing the ‘widespread adornment of houses and public places ….. a sacrificial offering’ and counters with her own, simpler explanation of the opportunity to forget one’s worries and ‘transform routine dullness and drabness into something special.’ It is an interesting discussion that makes me consider the way people hang England flags during a football World Cup, a subject I am interested in photographically.

Primarily, though, Kuhn’s book prompts the reader to think about their own family photograph album and question the meanings and motives behind the images. For me, it has prompted a deeper interest in my late mother’s old albums: the seemingly random order in which photographs are stuck in; the strong emphasis on her school days; why she kept photographs of old friends she had long lost touch with; the special outfits her daughters (myself and my sister) were dressed in. The stories behind he photographs are certainly more complex than I had previously considered and contain many more layers of meaning and lost memories. Since reading Family Secrets I shall spend some time going back through the albums and thinking about the hidden meanings behind some of the images, the cultural background, some of the people involved including the photographer, and the significance of what may have been omitted from the picture.

Kuhn, A. (2002). Family secrets: acts of memory and imagination. London; New York: Verso.