This was supposed to be a portraiture and storytelling photography project. It took place during covid time. I was not able to see the person I wanted to base the project on, so I created a photo series that represented her symbolically instead.
The person I chose for this project was my grandma, Chao, meaning pearl in Vietnamese. When I think of her, the first thing that comes to mind is food and her main love language, acts of service. One of my favorite memories I often look back on was when she cut and peeled fruit for her. I also ate a lot of bread spread with butter and topped with sugar growing up, because she always believed in treating yourself when it came to food. I developed a huge sweet tooth thanks to her and our favorite drink was Chrysanthemum tea. She reminds me of her favorite color, yellow, because of the way she lit up the room and brought family together. I incorporated green because she loved cooking with greens as well as gardening. I was also sure to take photos of scents that evoked memories of her in the kitchen like freshly cut lime and eucalyptus oil she used whenever she was sick or to soothe body aches. I inherited my love of gold from her and I wanted to show that off somehow. What better way than two items that she bought me? She bought me my first pair of gold hoop earrings and a gold necklace I still wear to this day.