Discarded Ancestors: At the Intersection of Art and Ancestry

Treasure lives amidst the rubble of lost neighborhoods. Elizabeth Leader is drawn to places and objects that most of us pass by on the street without even a glance. A discarded toy or the blank windows of an abandoned house are clues to a story that has been lost in time. When she came across a family photo album that had been tossed in the trash she transformed it into extraordinary collages that capture the essence of America’s industrial decline. Genealogical research revealed the immigrant families who came together, lived, and disappeared into that decline, almost without leaving a trace. An exquisite homage to all of our discarded ancestors.