Happy Memorial Day to all the US Artsies out there!  And happy Monday to everyone else!  Considering today’s holiday, the What It’s Worth series by Wisconsin artist Mackenzie Reynolds, which explores the visual memories lost from one generation to the next, seemed a fitting feature.

While my grandmother was a relentless notetaker ( the majority of our family photos have names and dates on them, thanks, Mimi! ), when my mom and I went through the huge stacks of black and white photos, many of the older images weren’t identifiable.  Luckily, my mom could make some pretty good guesses based on clothing and context.  As a family, we’re very lucky to have these momentos of our generational history.  But even we have had to discard some photos that weren’t identifiable or obviously a part of our family.  Photos of friends or acquaintances of my grandmother’s from when she was very young, people we never knew, my grandmother our only connection.  It’s a bit sad to think that someday another generation will discard our own images, or even worse, that in this digital age, there won’t be any physical record left of us once we are gone.  A hard pill to swallow, for sure, but if we know we’ve lived our best in this life, then we’ll care only for what happens now, not what is looked back on once we’ve left.

To see more of Mackenzie Reynolds‘ work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.