A Portrait of Nana #1

A song she used to sing

Since last summer when my Nana passed away, I have been wanting to take some photographs of her things in their place, where she kept them. It looks like the sale of her house is now going through, so I have very little time left to collect these images If I want to capture them as I had originally hoped to - in their place. So much of her house feels like an extension of herself; the ornaments and trinkets collected over the years, each telling a story or expressing a side of her intricate character. Every time I go back there, her pleasant, soft lingering smell has faded just a little more. She smelt like baby powder with undertones of coal tar shampoo. Her skin was so young and delicate. Today, I felt sad because her smell was hardly there at all. Still, her personality fills the rooms through the things that she left behind. Over the next week I will be popping down to her house each day, sharing glimpses of what made her so beautifully Nana.

The ornament pictured above is so familiar to me that I can't remember it not being around. For me, it represents her love of travel - I suspect she picked it up on one of her stops in Singapore. It also brings back sweeping waves of childhood nostalgia, of the magic I felt as I gazed at the tiny world behind the glass, imagining tiny little people scurrying and working amidst the sculpted scenery. Nana's house was full of things that would bring a child's imagination to life. She loved to talk and talk about her various travels across the globe. Her travel photographs were so jolly and occasionally amusing - even into old age she seemed to attract advances from enthusiastic males.

It was very hard to prize myself away from her house today, but an awakening toddler persuaded me to move on. More tomorrow...

in it's place