• Buffalo
    • Rabun
    • Eden
    • Detroit
    • Reno
    • Past Paper // Present Marks
    • Pink Parts & Other Gorgeous Nothings
    • Criminal Abstractions
    • Imprints
    • These Americans
    • Past Paper // Present Marks
    • Purchase Books
    • Bio
    • News
    • Contact
    • Links
    • Teaching
Menu

Jennifer Garza-Cuen

photography
  • Imag[in]ing America
    • Buffalo
    • Rabun
    • Eden
    • Detroit
    • Reno
  • Process Projects
    • Past Paper // Present Marks
    • Pink Parts & Other Gorgeous Nothings
    • Criminal Abstractions
    • Imprints
  • Books
    • These Americans
    • Past Paper // Present Marks
    • Purchase Books
  • About
    • Bio
    • News
    • Contact
    • Links
    • Teaching

Reno Stories #001

November 8, 2010

There was this time. Mom made pancakes. They had real Aunt Jemima maple syrup on them. Dad’s dad was from Alabama. He came with his wife to visit in a Winnebago. They brought syrup with them, and grits too. I didn’t much like the grits but when he put egg yolks on them they tasted a lot better. Grandma chain smoked Virginia cigarettes while she stirred the grits and I swear I saw ashes fall in. She wasn’t the kind of woman you say that to though. Her mother was a seamstress in San Francisco so she was pretty cultural.

She hated Alabama and made sure Grandpa knew it. I don’t think she much liked it here either. But she liked the machines and the fancy pink Zinfandel wine they gave her for free at the Golden Phoenix. She always threatened she was going to run off with a millionaire. Grandpa didn’t seem to mind.

It felt like Mom was just tolerating them, she was always so tired when they came to town. But I loved it. They would buy me prizes from the gumball machines and let me go to the arcade sometimes when they were playing slots.

Once Grandpa won, I think it was a lot cause he gave me fifteen dollars to play video games with, I saved ten of it for a Walkman. But I didn’t tell him though.

It wasn’t just the stuff they gave me either it was just more fun to watch them then it was to watch mom. And of course, there was the breakfast.

After Dad left I never saw them again. Maybe they’re dead. Maybe Grandma ran away with a millionaire. Maybe Grandpa lives in his Winnebago, all alone somewhere in Alabama and eats pancakes with Aunt Jemima syrup on them every morning, and grits with egg yolk.

That’s how I think of him.

← Top Photography Films Interview ~ Hamburg, GermanyReno Stories #004 →

Featured
CA_Install_001.jpg
Imprints & Abstractions ~ Nevada State Prison, Carson City, NV
Chrysler Museum of Art (8.11-11.5.23).jpg
Reckonings & Reconstructions, Chrysler Museum of Art ~ Norfolk, VA
Time, Mark, Memory.jpg
Time, Mark, Memory: Ucross At 40 Exhibition ~ Buffalo, WY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Exhibition Review ~ Atlanta, GA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Exhibition Review ~ Atlanta, GA
Looking Back, Seeing Forward ⎟The Bitter Southerner ~ Atlanta, GA
Looking Back, Seeing Forward ⎟The Bitter Southerner ~ Atlanta, GA
Art Museum of South Texas solo Exhibition ⎟ Past Paper // Present Marks ~ Corpus Christi, TX
Art Museum of South Texas solo Exhibition ⎟ Past Paper // Present Marks ~ Corpus Christi, TX
Georgia Museum of Art.jpg
Reckonings & Reconstructions, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia
Past Paper // Present Marks Book Review⎟Washington Post, Washington DC
Past Paper // Present Marks Book Review⎟Washington Post, Washington DC
Past Paper // Present Marks Book Review, Lenscratch, Los Angeles, CA
Past Paper // Present Marks Book Review, Lenscratch, Los Angeles, CA
International Center for Photography (ICP) Online Book Event with David Campany ~ New York, NY
International Center for Photography (ICP) Online Book Event with David Campany ~ New York, NY
Past Paper-1-Radius with Paris Photo Logo20.jpeg
Past Paper// Present Marks, book Launch & Signing at Paris Photo ~ Paris, FRANCE
Archipelago 15° 7′ 2″ S Exhibition, Museum of South Texas ~ Corpus Christi, TX
Archipelago 15° 7′ 2″ S Exhibition, Museum of South Texas ~ Corpus Christi, TX
PPAC Photo Talk Annoucement.jpg
Thursday Night Photo Talk, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center ~ Philadelphia, PA
PH Museum Feature ~ London, UK
PH Museum Feature ~ London, UK
Texas Monthly (2.2021).jpg
‘Under the Miracle Tree’ ~ Texas Monthly, Austin, TX
Beware Magazine (1.31.21).jpg
Beware Magazine ~ France
NR Magazine, Vol. 12 -AW20 (Autumn/Winter 2020) ~ London, UK
NR Magazine, Vol. 12 -AW20 (Autumn/Winter 2020) ~ London, UK
British Journal of Photography 1854 Media "Female in Focus Award" ~ London, UK
British Journal of Photography 1854 Media "Female in Focus Award" ~ London, UK
Penumbra Exhibiiton.jpg
'Past Paper // Present Marks' Solo Exhibition at the Penumbra Foundation ~ New York, NY
Papiers n°34 ~ Paris, FRANCE
Papiers n°34 ~ Paris, FRANCE
Keeper of the Hearth Exhibition, Houston Center for Photography ~ Houston, TX
Keeper of the Hearth Exhibition, Houston Center for Photography ~ Houston, TX
The Mind's Eye All About Photo Awards 2020 ~ Miami, FL
Lenculture, Exposure Awards 2020 ~ Paris, France
Lenculture, Exposure Awards 2020 ~ Paris, France
2019 Critical Mass Top 50 ~ Photo Lucida, Portland, OR
2019 Critical Mass Top 50 ~ Photo Lucida, Portland, OR
Fleming Museum Exhibition_001.jpg
Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul, Fleming Museum ~ Burlington, VT
Fresh 2019, Klompching Gallery ~ Brooklyn, NY
Fresh 2019, Klompching Gallery ~ Brooklyn, NY
Manifest INPHA6 Book ~ Cincinnati, Ohio
Manifest INPHA6 Book ~ Cincinnati, Ohio
Texas Monthly ~ Austin, TX
Texas Monthly ~ Austin, TX
TAMU-CC Article_001.jpg
TAMU-CC Article ~ Corpus Christi, TX
Texas National.jpg
First Prize, Texas National 2019, SFA University ~ Nacogdoches, TX

~