max l adams

Compatible Memories VHS

My uncle uncovered a lost home video of sorts: the 1992 deposition of Maria Alicia Maldonado (my great-grandfather's Honduran mistress) from the indictment of Conrado Zavala. The deposition interview and accompanying footage compiled by Maria's attorneys chronicle her partnership with my great-grandfather, his death, and the subsequent robbery of the family inheritance by the mobster Conrado. My image, superimposed over the recovered VHS footage, figuratively navigates San Pedro Sula, exploring this lost family heritage, inheritance, and memory.

This stop motion film is composed from 79 unique pencil drawings, each of them at 6 x 8 inches and drawn from HB-6B graphite. The deposition was translated into English from Spanish, and transcribed in three alternating hand-drawn fonts. All of the backdrops are adapted from the found VHS footage of the deposition (often manipulated), except for scene 6., which was shot in my mother’s hometown of Sparta, Michigan on an 8mm Sony Handycam.

scene 1. compatible memories

Scene 1: Compatible Memories, Frames 1-12, Arranged and Looped (2019)
Graphite Pencil
12 Drawings, Each at 6 x 8 in.

scene 2. de su herencia

Scene 2: de su Herencia, Frames 13-24, Arranged and Looped (2019)
Graphite Pencil
12 Drawings, Each at 6 x 8 in.

scene 3. descent

Scene 3: Descent, Frames 25-36, Arranged and Looped (2019)
Graphite Pencil
12 Drawings, Each at 6 x 8 in.

scene 4. vault

Scene 4: Vault, Frames 37-48, Arranged and Looped (2019)
Graphite Pencil
12 Drawings, Each at 6 x 8 in.

scene 5. scoundrels

Scene 5: Scoundrels, Frames 49-60, Arranged and Looped (2019)
Graphite Pencil
12 Drawings, Each at 6 x 8 in.

scene 6. dios mío

Scene 6: Dios Mío, Frames 61-72, Arranged and Looped (2019)
Graphite Pencil
12 Drawings, Each at 6 x 8 in.