Cousins ​​Exhibition at The Athenaeum in Boston – NBC Boston

It’s common for families to fill their living rooms with memories of their childhood, but in the case of a cousin and niece from Cambridge, Massachusetts, their portraits hang in magazines and museums.

The exhibition “Cousins” is on view this summer at The Athenaeum in downtown Boston. The black-and-white collection captures the joy, intimacy and connection of black girlhood.

The moments were captured by Kristen Joy Emack, a full-time lecturer at Cambridge and passionate photographer, who began taking photos of her daughter and nieces more than a decade ago.

“I was an aunt and a mother who would go out with my young people in the family and take pictures,” Emack said. “And some of them were really well composed or interesting.”

From then on, the photographs developed into photojournalistic images of bonds and shared experiences growing up.

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“It’s brought us closer together in so many ways because we’ve been together our whole lives, almost 24/7,” said Apple Emack, the photographer’s 17-year-old daughter.

There are happy, sad and even some mundane moments captured in the series. For Apple Emack and her cousins, the black and white photos bring back colorful memories. They hope the audience will have plenty to think about as well.

“I hope they give a sense of childhood, but especially of girlhood and maybe black girlhood, and give us a glimpse into what our childhood was like,” said Leyah Bernard, Apple’s niece and also 17.

The exhibition can be seen in the Athenaeum until 26 August. The exhibition was previously shown in the Cambridge Public Library and Vogue Italia, among others.

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“When I saw this work and realized how committed it is to preserving family memories and how it celebrates childhood, it felt like a really interesting counterpoint to our previous historical work,” said exhibition curator Lauren Graves.

As Leyah and Apple enter their senior year of high school, they can’t help but feel like their childhood is coming to an end. But with “Cousins,” their childhood memories — along with Kayla and Layla — are frozen in time.

“I was saying that to Leah the other day, I was like, in a year, we’re not going to see each other every day,” Apple Emack said. “And that’s crazy. That’s so sad. But I’m going to stick with her. I’m going to follow her wherever she goes.”

Now that the girls are starting to move apart — the oldest cousin, Kayla, has already moved to New York City for college — Joy Emack says a chapter of “Cousins” is definitely coming to an end. But she can’t imagine the project is over for good.

“I think there’s still interest in their story as they get older and grow,” Joy Emack said. “And I’d love to come back. I have no idea when or how, but I know I’ll be back with my camera with them.”