Good intentions: Remembering through framing photographs in English homes

This paper looks at the context of materialised memories - the consumption and framing of photographs. Ethnographic work in British homes unearthed diverse ways of consuming and displaying photos. We propose that these modes of framing mirror the relationships within and surrounding the household, and locate them in short-hand time frames characteristic of the social exchanges appropriate to those relationships. Through framing, people flog their collective good intentions to conduct relationships appropriately over time, without capitulating either to the risk of over-imposing nor of neglect. As a counterpart to Gell's and Strathern's analyses of art and social efficacy, our work illustrates the capacity within British family culture to materialise intention around on efficacious social object,constructing intention as a quality of persons not objects while retaining the agent-like Properties of photographs