Aaron Wax (born 1988) is a photographer who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. In the spring of 2014 he received his MFA in Photography, Video, and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts in New York, NY. Wax’s recent work is related to family histories as well as childhood memories. His project Little Stories About Him is a reflection upon his relationship with his father, and oncologist whose career dominated Wax’s early impressions. Today we take a look at Aaron’s work titled Little Stories About Him.
Little Stories About Him
“Little Stories About Him serves as a meditation upon my relationship with my father. The project consists of portraits of my father, myself, as well as ambiguous still life and landscape imagery. These images serve as free flowing signifiers for our relationship as well as each of us separately. Through the reconsideration of this period in our lives I reflect upon moments that have passed, which I can never fully revisit or recreate.
We look back upon our memories of childhood in an effort to discover what leads us to become the people we are today. This series expresses my experience with such reflection. The project exists both as a gallery instillation of prints as well as a book. The book combines my images with text taken both from interviews I have conducted with my father as well as written by me.
The two voices within the text are purposefully intertwined to develop ambiguity between whose stories are being recounted. Through the combined story developed with image and text, I encourage a viewer to think about the interconnectivity of our lives with those who shaped and affected us, while also allowing for comparison between the lives of my father and myself.
Little Stories About Him reflects upon childhood themes, my relationship with my father, and explores the topic of our aging. Through this process I attempt to do the impossible, to preserve the past. My photographs and our stories are unable to hold onto a time already over, but rather serve as a reminder of the temporal nature of our existence.”
To view more of Aaron’s work please visit his website.