This is the first piece in a series of Regenerating the Past. This is a personal project of mine, imagining and re-creating a non-fictional non-existent past through the use of technology. My grandparents were married in 1949 but never appeared in the local “Society and Clubs” section announcing their union, which was a common occurrence for those that could afford to pay for the insert.

After a few weeks of research into the layout and content of the San Jose Mercury Herald via microfiche, I was able to imagine how my grandparents would have appeared and been written about; re-creating a non-existent piece of my family history. Every ad, text and image was re-designed using Adobe Illustrator to highlight the now defunct social scene of 1940’s San José.

Recreating the past that never existed. Research and art combine to formulate a non-existent family history.