Good Intentions: Remembering through Framing Photographs in English Homes

ABSTRACT This paperlooks at the context of materialised memories–the consumption and framing of photographs. Ethnographic workin British homes unearthed diverse ways of consuming and displaying photos. We propose that these modes of framing mirror the relationships within and surrounding the household, andlocate themin short-hand time frames characteristic of the socialexchanges appropriate to those relationships. Through framing, people flag their collective good intentions to conduct relationships appropriately over time, without capitulating either to the risk of over-imposing nor of neglect. As a counterpart to Gell's and Strathern's analyses of art and social efficacy, our work illustrates the capacity within British family culture to materialise intention around an efficacious social object, constructing intention as a quality of persons not objects while retaining the agent-like properties of photographs.

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