©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Photo of my grandmother’s home and front porch

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, The Porch, Handpainted b&w silver print

The last time I sat on my great-grandmother’s front porch was about five years ago. My now-husband and I were visiting during a cross-country roadtrip, celebrating the Fourth of July and my last year of graduate school. While in this nostalgic mindset, I reminisced about all of the items our family had gathered on that porch. This year, after she passed away at the age of 101, I went through her photographs. Each gathering of family over the years took place either in front of the house or on the porch, from buying her first house to family reunions to picnics. Rebecca Sexton Larson’s series The Porch immediately resonated with me, as I am sure it will for anyone who has spent time on their family porch. The porch represents a meeting ground, one to tell stories, share emotions, and engage with your neighbors. By physically manipulating these images, Rebecca adds an additional personal layer, one that is often overlooked in our increasingly virtual age, along with that of the porch. Spend some time with these images, and consider the stories they hold next time you sit on your own front porch.

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Family Porch Photo, Handpainted b&w silver print

Rebecca always knew that art would be a central part of her life. Growing up as an only child in a military family, she experienced frequent relocations but found solace in art, which remained a constant regardless of where her family moved. Fortunately, her father’s decision to prolong their stay in one place allowed her to pursue her studies at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., during high school.

In Tampa, she earned a Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of South Florida. At her father’s encouragement, she also pursued a degree in Mass Communications with a focus on photojournalism. Although her father wanted her to follow a more traditional career path, Rebecca chose to pursue her passion for art and photography.

After graduating, Rebecca used her photography degree to work as a photographer for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and as a medical photographer for the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. Eventually, she transitioned to becoming a full-time artist, specializing in large handpainted black and white pinhole photographs.

Throughout her career, Rebecca has received significant recognition for her work. She was honored with Florida Individual Artist Fellowships in 1998, 2002, and 2008, and received an Artist Enhancement Grant from the State of Florida in 2006. In 2005, she was commissioned by the City of Tampa to serve as the Photographer Laureate for a year, documenting the city with her pinhole camera.

Her photographs are part of numerous important collections across the country, including those held by Polaroid, Progressive Corporate Art, Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art (formerly the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland), Cassilhaus (Durham, NC), the Museum of Fine Arts (St. Petersburg), the Tampa Museum of Art (Tampa), the Historical Museum (Santa Fe), and Candela Gallery (Richmond, VA). Many of her unique works are also held in private collections.

You can follow Rebecca on Instagram at: @sextonlarson

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Without Fail, Archival pigment print on Kozo paper with hand painting, stitching and embroidery

The Porch

The Porch series visually captures the stories shared on my grandmother’s front porch during my childhood. After meals, friends and family would gather to exchange heartfelt stories, some questionable gossip, and, of course, the day’s news. We would laugh and enjoy each other’s company on a small concrete entryway, sitting in two fragile, webbed lawn chairs and a matching metal garden glider. Unfortunately, these front porch gatherings have gradually faded away, giving rise to a more isolated culture dominated by internet browsing and social media. As the world becomes increasingly digitally connected, we have never felt more socially disconnected. I aim to visually revisit the memories created on that small porch in Kentucky, where, as dusk settled in, light danced off the rolling hills, and the night was filled with the sounds of lightning bugs and crickets.

The Porch utilizes a blend of digital and analog imagery along with painting to explore inherited memories shaped by traditions, rituals, and storytelling. Each piece is a synthesis of various images and materials, including photographic prints, gouache and watercolor paintings, drawings, and stitching. This series examines how early experiences of narrative, family history, and storytelling contribute to our identity and influence our current relationships with others. Our family stories lay the groundwork for understanding both painful and joyous experiences, serving as a key to discovering the essence of life.

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Reunion, Archival pigment print on Kozo paper with hand painting, stitching and embroidery

Epiphany Knedler: How did your project come about?

Rebecca Sexton Larson: The Porch series provides a visual documentation of narratives inspired by my childhood experiences on my grandmother’s front porch. I use found family photographs as a key storytelling medium. These images capture not only specific moments but also the emotions, contexts, and stories of their time, emphasizing our fundamental human desire for connection. However, with the rise of technology, changes in architecture, and family work schedules the personal connections that were once nurtured on front porches have gradually faded away.

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Sleep Journey, Archival pigment print on Kozo paper with hand painting, stitching and embroidery

EK: Is there a specific image that is your favorite or particularly meaningful to this
series?

RSL: One photograph from The Porch series that holds particular significance for me is titled “Reunion.” This image captures one of the last family gatherings of my father’s siblings, featuring aunts, uncles, and grandparents all carefully posed together. What resonates with me most about this image is that it preserves not only the familiar faces but also the dynamics of our family get-togethers. It serves as a time capsule of shared memories and secrets.

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Swimming Insecurities, Archival pigment print on Kozo paper with hand painting, stitching and embroidery

EK: Can you tell us about your artistic practice?

RSL: My work derives from old family photographs, letters, and journals (mine and others) that I have acquired throughout time. Through my artistic endeavors, I aspire to amplify silent narratives, seeking to uncover and address unresolved aspects of family history. Rather than letting a painted photograph serve as the sole subject of a piece, I strive to create more complex and poetic works in which the photograph plays one role out of many. Additionally, I am using loose threads and stitched text more in my artwork, to bridge the narrative qualities, while balancing the other materials in the image. Excerpts from family letters, poetic quotes, and personal thoughts float around through, under the hand-painted, translucent images. The text is not meant to be literal captions or explanations, but serve instead as one key piece in a collage of visual and textual imagery.

During the past few years, I have become more experimental in my use of photography with other mediums and alternative surfaces. My creative process starts with collecting images, which I integrate digitally in Adobe Photoshop to create a preliminary sketch. I then print this on handmade Kozo paper for added depth and transparency. I break the sketch into chapters to focus on each narrative segment, constructing the final artwork with gouache paint, stitching, and embroidery. Each print, measuring 13 by 13 inches to 15 by 16 inches, results in unique, one-of-a-kind pieces that hopefully capture a compelling story.

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Unspeakably Lonely, Archival pigment print on Kozo paper with hand painting, stitching and embroidery

EK: What’s next for you?

RSL: Currently, I am working on images that I tentatively have titled ‘Memory Markers.’ A series of fictional scenes capturing moments that are effectively suspended in time, establishing an atmosphere characterized by stillness and ambiguity. The narrative imagery integrates a collection of found ephemera alongside personal photographs. They are more haunting and dark in quality underscoring the interplay between beauty and mystery in isolated memories. Each image presents a void wherein the familiar gradually diminishes, giving way to the emergence of the unknown. This invites viewers
to engage with a world that feels both recognizable and remote, fostering a deeper exploration of the complexities inherent in memory.

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Home Builder, Archival pigment print on Kozo paper with hand painting, stitching and embroidery

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Intimidating Unknown, Archival pigment print on Kozo paper with hand painting, stitching and embroidery

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Come Spring, Archival pigment print on Kozo paper with hand painting, stitching and embroidery

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Almanac, Archival pigment print on Kozo paper with hand painting, stitching and embroidery

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Collector of Details, Archival pigment print on Kozo paper with hand painting, stitching and embroidery

©Rebecca Sexton Larson, Revelations, Archival pigment print on Kozo paper with hand painting, stitching and embroidery

Epiphany Knedler is an interdisciplinary artist + educator exploring the ways we engage with history. She graduated from the University of South Dakota with a BFA in Studio Art and a BA in Political Science and completed her MFA in Studio Art at East Carolina University. She is based in Aberdeen, South Dakota, serving as an Assistant Professor of Art and Coordinator of the Art Department at Northern State University, a Content Editor with LENSCRATCH, and the co-founder and curator of the art collective Midwest Nice Art. Her work has been exhibited in the New York Times, Vermont Center for Photography, Lenscratch, Dek Unu Arts, and awarded through the Lucie Foundation, F-Stop Magazine, and Photolucida Critical Mass.