Sam Cannon: Family Portraits

Sam Cannon is a photo and video artist currently attending Rochester Institute of Technology.

“My family has only ever taken one family portrait. I was six. 
Since then my sister passed away, my mother and father divorced, and our family unit disbanded. 

I’m fascinated with the use of family portraits in our society. We are surrounded by images of false families, models paid to pose together and sell us ideas and products. For the past year I have been placing myself in these families, pulled from stock images, advertisements, products and television. In some cases the altered portraits are then placed back into the stores from which they were originally purchased. What first began as an exploration of belonging and family structure has now caused me to question these ideal families. How have my own expectations been sold to me through images of people who aren’t actually related?”

Cannon joins a generation of artists who utilize photographic means but pushes them further through the creation of viral GIFs and looping videos. Her personal project, “Family Portraits” touches on a very personal subject matter with a welcome tongue in-cheek approach. Cannon’s methods transform a possibly painful memory into a  investigation in which digital technology and pop culture might inject themselves into our private expectations.