Family Ties

  • Beatrice Hood

  • Family Ties

  • Beatrice Hood is a mixed-media artist and producer based in New York City. She focuses on creating autobiographical photography, fruit structures and collage compositions combining text, imagery, objects and personal ephemera. Her work explores the mechanisms behind the construction of memory, how we internalize traumatic events and the aftermath of personal experiences. Her basis in photography has also transitioned into a passion for photo and video producing. Her production experience includes work for Vanity Fair, GQ, Behind the Blinds Magazine, Hero Magazine, Fendi, John Varavtos, Brock Collection, McDonalds, Rolex, NBC Universal and Warner Brothers.

  • My thesis project explores my complex family dynamics and history and how they have shaped my identity. My somewhat traditional heteronormative family structure was shattered due to lying, assault, trauma and secrets. As I grew up I found myself subconsciously craving to re-pattern that same ruinous structure; this has led me to create work investigating what makes a familial system.

    Over the past two years I have reconnected with my family members, asking them to recall some of the traumatic events my mind had erased. Through listening to them I have been able to learn more about my myself and my background which had always been a mystery. I traveled back to my grandmother’s home in Chappaqua, New York where I lived from ages four to six where I found my childhood bedroom perfectly preserved, the street where I learned to ride a bike and rows of photo albums with pictures of family members I have never met. Through this personal journey I began to make photographs organizing my memories in a new way. I am presenting my thesis work through small artist books and collage, mediums of the same curiosity I had as a child.