Photographer Memorializes Her Grandfather Through Objects He Left Behind

Luggage.

“These photographs function simultaneously as an acknowledgement to the ephemeral nature of life and as an indulgence in man’s unwillingness to give in to this understanding—his desire to arrest time, to counter anonymity, to leave something behind, to be immortal.”—Andrea Tese

Inheritance is a sincere yet unapologetic documentation of one man and the many parts that make up his life. A New York City native, photographer Andrea Tese has dedicated the last two years to archiving her grandfather’s possessions after his passing in 2011. An often daunting and melancholic task to surviving relatives, Tese sorts through her grandfather’s property with an acute anthropology, compiling like objects into various still lifes and displays. Though deeply personal, Tese is neither tender nor sentimental towards this abandoned inventory. Each categorized memory feels heavy with consciousness while simultaneously remaining extremely vacant, resonant with a life gone forever. Inheritance asks no questions and begs no answers, but rather acts as an intimate chronicle of personal identity through a history left behind.

Tese’s debut exhibition Inheritance is on view at the De Buck Gallery in New York City through February 15th, 2014.

Fishing Gear.

Bedding.

Postcards, Stamps, and Addresses.

Dentures.

Hair and Teeth.

Paper Weights.

Newspapers.

Lighting.

Shoes.

This post was contributed by photographer and Feature Shoot Editorial Assistant Jenna Garrett.

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