The ANGEL ISLAND STORIES series consists of photographs of the personal things that once belonged to Chinese, Japanese, Russians and people of other nationalities who came to America through San Francisco via Angel Island Immigration Center (the “Ellis Island of the West”) during 1910-1940. The unifying theme of many of my series, including LEFT BEHIND, OLD THINGS, BOTTLED PAST, and ANGEL ISLAND STORIES, is a reflection on discarded things and abandoned places of the past whose value is not in the conventional attractiveness, modern-day usefulness, or preciousness of the material but in the priceless memories they evoke.
Related series: OLD THINGS, LEFT BEHIND, BOTTLED PAST