Sound of Butterfly: Frozen Moment

“One quiet night in August, I lost someone I loved so much. With my grief, I began searching for memories we shared. I found these in family photo albums and in the belongings she left behind. The memories were painful, but I found myself feeling an appreciation for her love, and the passion and dreams she had shared with me. She was my beloved mother who had dedicated her life to her family but who struggled relentlessly with depression. Butterflies were one of my mother’s favorite things. But more than this, they also symbolize a new journey for me. The process of creating this body of work enabled me to understand and embrace my grief by tracing the path of my mother’s journey through life.” -Soomin Ham “Frozen Moment” is the second in the series “Sound of Butterfly”, a reflection on a journey of Ham's mother through life, depression, and death. Over the years, the artist photographed many of the belongings her mother had left behind. The artist also created photographs of places and times resonant of her mother’s presence. Ham placed these images in a 4”x4” box with water in a freezer. Each frozen picture was then re-photographed on a lightbox. The series was created to document and preserve moments and objects that would have vanished, or like memory, would have decayed and faded.