Artist: Julie Graber

Contact at: www.juliegraberphotography.com
www.juliegraber.com
Instagram: @jegraber

Hand Me Downs
New work by Julie Graber
Lighthouse Roasters
October 2025

I am now the keeper of many things. Letters, photos, jewelry, dresses, addresses,
calendars, All with stories and memories. Hand me downs.
I have a dress that was embroidered for me by my grandmother, Mimi. It’s 1971,
Memphis, Tennessee, and I am a flower girl. I was graduating kindergarten and my
gloved hand held that of a graduating senior. I don’t remember that day- as we rarely do
when presented with a story from childhood- but I have photos of myself in the dress,
and I have the dress. It was my special birthday party dress. Cleaned and pressed
when it hung in my closet in Memphis, I wore it ceremoniously.
It was handed down to me when I had children, and they have now all worn it for special
occasions and not so special occasions. They wore it for many photo sessions. I wanted
to preserve not just the dress, but them in the dress at a certain age.
No longer pressed and perfect, this hand me down is stained by chocolate cake and
green marker. Still treasured. A connection to my past. A souvenir.
There’s also the dress that my mother-in-law cherishes. It is her confirmation dress her
mother also wore. As have my children. Every year on their birthdays we’d unfold the
tissue paper wrapping and they would try it on. We’d make much of how much bigger
they’ve gotten when the skirt no longer fell into the grass. Years measured by the size of
a dress.
The albums with their yellowing tape. These family photos handed to me become part of
my own lore as I’ve used them to make art, And jewelry that once hung on the necks
and ringed fingers of other Marthas and Corlettes, handed down. As are their names.
I stumbled across a poem written to my mom on her 25th birthday by the
aforementioned Mimi. Somehow by reading it, all these hand me downs start to make
sense. I am part of a chain- a continuity. I am now a keeper of many things. I will
probably always be a keeper and collector. I do wonder what will come next for these
hand me downs.