shashasha

“Family Photographs” contains the intimate photographs taken by the late American photographer Joan Albert (1943–2012) of her own sons and the children of friends. Created between the 1970s and 1990s, Albert’s photography documents the growth of her sons and the deep subtleties of parent-child relationships with remarkable emotional complexity and understanding. Edited by Sage Sohier, an artist and friend of Joan Albert’s, the book is split into two chapters, “Mine” with photographs of her own sons and “Theirs” with photographs of neighbors, relatives and strangers.

“Joan was in her mid-30s [when I met her in 1979], and was raising two sons on her own. Her middle son, Jason, had died in an accident, and – between her experience of motherhood and of loss – she seemed infinitely older and wiser than me, someone I could learn from about life as well as photography. She loved her children more than anything, and she loved the ability of the 4x5” view camera to beautifully render and preserve moments of their rapidly changing lives.”
― from Sage Sohier’s afterword