#mili-eu: Ileana, Mr. B's grandmother

Family photograph woven in doily. The purpose of this experimental endeavour is to attempt to understand and illustrate how fragile personal objects, such as doilies and photographs, can be used to communicate, preserve memories, and evoke visual narratives in interpersonal contexts. It aims to intertwine the female and male gaze by juxtaposing the woman’s doilies with photographs taken by her husband and grandson. Ileana was born on February 13, 1928, in Măceșu de Sus, Dolj county, Romania. Ileana was a homemaker, she looked after the house and her family her entire life. Ileana lived for 90 years. Among her personal belongings she left behind several doilies crafted by herself and a series of family photographs taken by her husband and grandson showing her at different ages, from the age of 21 until the age of 84. I chose nine portraits of Ileana that were taken along her lifetime at different ages. As she aged, I wove more of her photos into the doilies, believing that with age, she could be more readily recognised in her works. Photographs and personal objects from the family collection owned by Mr. Cristian Bassa were used within the project.