It's common for families to hang childhood memories in their living rooms, but for a Cambridge, Massachusetts, set of four cousins, their portraits are featured in magazines and museums.
The "Cousins" exhibit is on display this summer at The Athenaeum in Boston's downtown — the black and white collection shows the joy, intimacy and connection of Black girlhood.
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The moments were captured by Kristen Joy Emack, a fulltime Cambridge educator and passionate photographer, who began taking photos of her daughter and nieces over a decade ago.
"I was an aunt and a mom out with my with the young people in the family and taking photographs," Emack said. "And some of them were really well-composed or interesting."
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From there, the shots morphed into a photojournalism showing bonds and shared experiences while growing up.
"It definitely brought us closer in many ways because we've been together for our whole lives, like almost 24-7," Apple Emack said, who is the 17-year-old daughter of the photographer.
There are happy, sad and even some mundane moments that are captured in the series. For Apple Emack, and her cousins, the black and white photographs conjure up colorful memories. They hope that the public is left with plenty to think about, too.
"I hope that they take away an outlook on childhood, but most of all, girlhood and perhaps, Black girlhood — and just see a glimpse of what childhood was like for us," Leyah Bernard said, who is a cousin of Apple and is also 17 years old.
The exhibit will be featured at the Athenaeum through Aug. 26. It's already been featured at the Cambridge Public Library and Vogue Italia, among others.
"When I saw this work and saw how dedicated it was to preserving familial memories and really celebrating girlhood, it felt like a really interesting kind of foil to our earlier historic work," exhibit curator Lauren Graves said.
With Leyah and Apple heading into their senior year of high school, they can't help but feel that their childhood is coming to an end. But with "Cousins," their childhood memories — alongside Kayla and Layla — are frozen in time.
"I was saying that the other day to Leah, I was like, in a year, like, we're not going to see each other every day," Apple Emack said. "And that's crazy. That's so sad. But, I'll stay with her. I'll just follow her wherever she goes."
With the girls beginning to go their separate ways — the oldest cousin, Kayla, has already moved to New York City for college — Joy Emack says a chapter to "Cousins" is certainly coming to a close. But she can't imagine that the project is over for good.
"I think there's still an interest in their story as they get older and they grow," Joy Emack said. "And I would love to come back around. I have no idea when or how, but I know that, that I'll be back with my camera with them."
