“Cherry Hill: A Childhood Reimagined” is a multimedia memoir of photographic artist Jona Frank’s upbringing in – and flight from – a stifling suburban household. Told in words and 200 evocatively-staged photographs, Frank’s account of her childhood struggles with a repressive mother and overwhelming expectations is leavened with episodes from her rich interior world.
Akin to a graphic novel, this hybrid of personal essay and photography breaks open the memoir format, detailing the life of a young artist as she spends her days dreaming of a friendship with Emily Dickinson, longing for Bruce Springsteen, and eschewing the rules of femininity. In the author’s own words, “Cherry Hill is, in a sense, an exercise in time travel. It’s a creation of the moments we are meant to leave behind. It’s a girl’s story about defining her place in her family, while also wanting to find her purpose outside of it.”
