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Family photo album as a visual narrative

https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2024-7-55-71

Abstract

Since the end of the 20th century, foreign and domestic researchers have paid serious attention to the study of family memory and methods of its construction. One of the constructs that accumulates family memories is considered to be a family photo album, which concentrates symbolic, figurative and verbal representations of the family past, which are reproduced, stored and broadcast by members of the same family to ensure its integrity and unity, the formation of individual and family identity, and also the transfer of significant value guidelines. Family artifacts such as albums and home photographs are intended to convey an ideal image of the family and maintain family ties. However, scientists focus particular attention not so much on the past event itself, as on the problems of preserving and transmitting the memory of it. In particular, researchers study the peculiarities of the construction of reality by members of a certain society from the position of narrative analysis. The purpose of the paper under consideration is to present a family photo album as an integral, visual narrative about the family’s past, identifying the key aspects of this method of forming family memory. Therefore, the article compares home photography and family photo album as different forms of visual narrative in terms of strategies of narrative text organization, its structure and the specifics of its creation.

About the Author

D. O. Demina
The State Order of Honor Maxim Gorky Museum
Russian Federation

Diana O. Demina

19, Semashko St., Nizhny Novgorod, 603005



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For citations:


Demina D.O. Family photo album as a visual narrative. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2024;(7):55-71. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2024-7-55-71

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