Secrets, lies and family stories

This paper, a work in progress, considers the impact and repercussions of family stories and items passed down from one generation to another. Utilising a personal family “archive” of objects, photographs and documents from the Wilkins family, my paternal great grandparents, it considers the context of family secrets and stories, the “keeper” of those stories, as well as reflecting on how the personal familial experience can reflect the collective. Drawing on the work of Annette Kuhn around Family Secrets (1995) and others, it questions the power of family secrets and reoccurring patterns and themes within families that along with physical items are often silently passed down amongst generations.