Doing Family Photography- Gillian Rose

Due to the very nature of this project and the "affect" these memory boxes have on the owner my research is taking a turn from the actual possessions and objects to the people and sentiment behind . So far all of my visual experiments have been conducted unconsciously around my family and i think i would like to look into this field more . I have asked friends ,work colleagues ,tutors ect if they have memory boxes but so far i have been drawn to the female members of my family ( not one of the males either side of my family have kept any form of memory box) . Its getting to a time where i need to start putting a concept together for my final series and i think concentrating my research down to the female members and there traditional memory boxes is a start .
 I have found a very common component in the memory box which is family photographs . Will mine and the other female members of my family have linked memory boxes? i know for a sure fact that every member of my family will appear in the photographs kept in my hat box but will the others be the same .Also what is the reason that all of the female members of my family have collected memory's and the males haven't ? Is it a coincidence or does memory work differently in different genders . These are questions i am hoping to explore in the near future which will hopefully shape my final series .

Looking into family photography and particularly interested in genders involvement in the family photographic practice , i have read the following book ,perfect for my research. Gillian Rose the author, for the first part of the book, has interviewed a group of women who are mothers about there family's photographic practice .She has looked through all of the women's kept images and asked them questions through out , not only has she asked to view constructed family albums but also any framed photographs or digital images on there computer. 

 

Doing family Photography

The domestic , the public and the politics of sentiment 

What is done with family snaps?

Family snaps as objects 

" If all but one of those women wanted to show me their albums,framed photographs and computer folders, they also urged me not to feel i had to look carefully at every single photo. Partly due to the sheer numbers of photographs they had and partly it was because they knew i didn't know the people pictured...Knowing the people pictured is a vital part of viewing the family album... interviewees knew their photos were repetitive . "

This particular chapter also talks about how the women know there family album is boring to view for anybody else than them and how baby albums are especially generic and "Samey". Baby's first smile ,solid food , bath , party etc . The women admit to just photographing the sunshine and smiles too because they all seemed to have the mentality why would you want to memory's of the rainy , dull days or illness for example.

I'm wondering if this "samey" theme to family photography will be the same in peoples memory boxes or the fact that they are often a private  matter make them more individual . If i begin to explore my family's memory boxes will i be surprised that we have all chosen to keep similar things or will each memory box speak individually about its owner ? 
I now will be looking to  find artists/ photographers that are dealing with family photo albums and breaking the conversions of the smiles and sunshine.