RUBY & WILLIE: my grandparents' home
Ruby, passed in 1978, leaving Willie to live alone. He lived in the basement and kitchen, not touching any of the rooms. I documented each room as I would a museum, capturing all the details in the kitchen, living room, dining room, hallway, boys’ room, girls’ room, Ruby’s room, the downstairs TV room, and finally Willie's basement bedroom.
I began documenting their simple décor one December when I came to visit. Maybe I knew this home, which looked to me like a movie set, would soon be destroyed. Within four months my grandfather fell sick and passed away. This home, which hadn’t been changed in more than 25 years, was soon stripped down to nothing. Everything was gone.
As generations leave us, they take with them their environments. I used photography for what it does best: to document a place and time before it is gone.
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