{"id":4449,"date":"2025-05-31T19:24:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T19:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/?page_id=4449"},"modified":"2026-09-11T19:07:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:07:38","slug":"snapshots-an-unfaithful-look-back","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/?page_id=4449","title":{"rendered":"SNAPSHOTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

These paintings are based on family photographs, many taken in Williamstown, NJ during the 1950s. The underlying truth is so elusive you can’t see it even when you see it, so I’ve tried to discover it physically, with a paint brush, there behind the arranged expressions and automatic postures.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ll avoid the uber-popular terminology, it cheapens the evil. If you know you know.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When they first come for you, you don’t understand why you’re being unfairly maligned and misdiagnosed and smeared. But then, if you’re very lucky, you do understand, only you still keep it to yourself because telling is almost impossible and much too dangerous and because you realize no one’s going to believe you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Baba, my Polish great-grandmother who emigrated from what’s now Latvia. She died when I was a child and I don’t really know anything about her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>

Baba, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

My grandparents’ wedding. That look has to be for her mother.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nana’s wedding, 18″ by 24″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Dolly and Virginia, sisters who fought for themselves and lost.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sisters, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Nana’s second husband standing behind a rosebush, God knows why.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Grandpop, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

My mom when she still had her swagger.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Virginia, 18″ by 24″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Aunt Dolly, the smartest, wittiest sibling, already fenced in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dolly, 11″ by 14″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

My mother and brother.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Spring, South Jersey, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Nana and me, her captiv<\/span>e.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nana and me, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Me again, in overalls and a babushka, with a chicken.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Red scarf, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

My brother and me and some background drama. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Williamstown, 18″ by 24″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Mickie and Chuck again. This is not a nice picture and it only got worse.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mickie and Chuck, 11″ by 14″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Chuck in his golden era.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Chuck, golden era, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

My Mom the plant lady at the Philadelphia Flower Show. For whatever reason, she uniformly used her biological father’s surname as an adult, but when she died her mother used her stepfather’s name in her obituary because, hey – she was dead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Flower show, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Dolly in her blond era.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Happy birthday, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Nana with Mr. D., her late-life companion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nana and Mr. D., 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

Me at the Gulf of Mexico a year or so before starting law school.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Red jacket, 14″ by 18″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Chuck, nature photographer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Chuck, 11″ by 14″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Nana and Shep in her Pennsylvania backyard. She won.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nana and Shep, 18″ by 14″ oil on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2025 – 2026 Mike Miller, LLC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These paintings are based on family photographs, many taken in Williamstown, NJ during the 1950s. The underlying truth is so elusive you can’t see it even when you see it, so I’ve tried to discover it physically, with a paint brush, there behind the arranged expressions and automatic postures. I’ll avoid the uber-popular terminology, it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4449","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4449"}],"version-history":[{"count":320,"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5596,"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4449\/revisions\/5596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asmikemiller.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}