Judy Morris Lampert

A Sense of Place in the South series

2006

These photographs represent a portion of my life while growing up in Atlanta.  They are centered on the houses my aunt, my father and their father built.   Some of the photographs are of houses that my grandfather built, in which my aunt and father grew up.  Others are of the houses that my grandfather built in Candler Park on streets that were named for his sisters, Josephine and Elmira.  Some of the other photographs are of houses that my father built, in which my family lived.  One of the photographs is of a house that my aunt built.  She said that if her brother Montgomery could build houses then she could too and proceeded to build fifteen.  It is interesting to note some of the newly constructed houses that I photographed hearken back to the cottages that my grandfather built in the 1920’s.  The photograph taken of 2039 Fisher Trail is of a new house, built after the tear down of a house that we lived in for nine years.

The photographs of houses that are under construction represent the times that I remember seeing so many of my father’s houses under construction.  The abandoned houses that I photographed in this southern series are metaphors of my sense of abandonment as a child (I was adopted).

In the early 1960’s there was a housing boom.  My father’s houses, often the first on the street, always sold quickly so we had to move often.  My mother was extraordinary, making every move seem like an adventure.

Being southern and having lived in so many homes, a sense of place is very important to me.

September 2006

Click on the thumbnails to open larger images in a new window.

Archival digital prints
25 images in grid form, each 5” x 7”