The grid: Amy Friend casts vintage photos in a new light

Tara Joshi

The Canadian artist takes ‘orphaned’ photographs from the 1920s-40s and makes them sparkle again

While perusing an old family album with her grandmother, the Canadian artist Amy Friend recognised that, although it’s often associated with archiving, photography alone can’t preserve memory. It sparked an idea: to take “orphaned” pictures from the 1920s, 30s and 40s, delicately pierce them, then illuminate the images from behind. The technique revives fragmented stories and lets them glow, and the results are collected in a new book called Firelight.

“I invite [light] to act as a collaborator, bridging the distance between the moment the photograph was first made and the present act of viewing,” says Friend. “This collaboration extends to the original photographer: I find myself considering who they were and what compelled them to take the image.”