Artist Gemma Carly Pepper has developed a unique artistic practice that examines the complex relationships between identity, memory, and intergenerational trauma through her work with found photographs. Her project "Silent Witness" transforms anonymous, once-treasured images into powerful vessels that carry inherited silence, emotional residue, and unresolved histories from the past.
Pepper's approach treats these discovered photographs not as static records frozen in time, but as flexible surfaces where both personal and collective stories can be carefully unraveled, rewoven, and brought into clear visibility. She deliberately disrupts the stillness of these portraits by embedding various materials including thread, broken glass, and hand-drawn shapes directly into the images.
These tactile interventions serve as powerful metaphors for several profound concepts: the unseen labor required for survival, the chaotic nature of memory, and the inherited wounds that continue to affect people across generations. Sometimes these influences are consciously recognized, but often they operate beneath the surface of awareness. Pepper's modifications suggest that beneath every composed exterior lies an intricate web of both rupture and resilience.
The artist's work is firmly grounded in her belief that trauma is transmitted not only through the stories that families tell, but also through the silences they maintain. The embellishments and disruptions she introduces to the photographs are not intended as acts of erasure or destruction. Instead, they represent acts of reckoning and confrontation with difficult truths.
These artistic interventions reflect both the beauty and complexity of being shaped by forces beyond individual control, while also representing attempts to give those invisible forces tangible form in the present moment. The altered photographs ultimately function as quiet rituals of repair, acknowledging fracture and damage without attempting to conceal or minimize it.
Through this process, Pepper creates meaningful spaces for reflection, discomfort, and connection that transcend time boundaries. Her work invites viewers to confront their own inherited experiences while fostering dialogue about the lasting impacts of intergenerational trauma. More information about her artistic practice can be found at www.GemmaPepper.com.
