Captured on Film – A Tribute to Shelia Turner Seed

Dec 12, 2024 by Two Sues On the Aisle

By Two Sues on the Aisle, Susie Rosenbluth and Sue Weston

“A Photographic Memory” is an autobiographic documentary directed by Rachel Elizabeth Seed sharing her search to find a connection with her mother, Shelia Turner Seed. Shelia was a talented photojournalist who died suddenly at age 42 of a cerebral hemorrhage when Rachel was 18 months old, leaving a void. “A Photographic Memory” captures the forces shaping the Seed family, Rachel, Sheila, and father Brian Seed (a Time-Life photographer) connected through photography.

Sheila was a journalist and photographer who created essays for the educational publisher Scholastic Books in the 1960s and 1970s. She collaborated with the International Center of Photography (ICP) to create “Images of Man,” an audio-visual series of interviews capturing the creative process behind photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Parks, and Cornell Capa. After Shelia’s death, Brian sent the unfinished film materials to the ICP for safekeeping.

In 2012 Rachel discovered and digitized more than 70 reels. Hearing her mother’s voice allowed her to reconstruct her mother’s narrative, in “A Photographic Memory” Rachel chronicled her discovery process.

Transparent and Moving

Rachel had no memory of her mother until she undertook this project. Her ability to step into the film creates a closeness, allowing the audience to join her journey and discover her mother. Their family legacy is recorded in photographs, grandparents from the Shtetl, family celebrations of Chanukah, Pesach, and weddings. Shelia was a well-educated Jewish woman who grew up in post-war Chicago in a traditional family, selecting feminism and a career over marriage.

Rachel studied her mother’s life captured in audio, photographs, and journal entries. It was through listening to her mother’s spoken words, that Rachel found her missing connection. Listening to the recorded interviews, and conversations with her father, friends, and acquaintances she elevated her mother from a distant memory to a vibrant role model.

Sense of Humanity

Shelia’s journals exposed her inner conflict. She recognized her potential to achieve greatness and held herself to a high standard as she balanced her career with pressures from her parents and society to marry and have a family. Just as Shelia’s unique perspectives brought a sense of humanity to her works Rachel addresses this film as though it were a collaboration, a conversation with the mother she never knew. Sharing her insights on film ‘Oh, we just have the same interest. We’re just generally on the same page.’ Not only did she look like her mother, but she also shared a similar perspective and was talented in writing and photography, with a soft kindness.

Shelia holding Rachel

Both women followed non-traditional routes, connecting with amazing artists, and learning through collaborating, listening, and pushing toward perfection. They used photography to dig deeper and explore emotions and connections realizing that artists are more complex than their works. The Seed women both wanted to understand the person behind the creative. Photographs attempt to make moments in life ever-lasting, but as Cartier-Bresson told Turner-Seed in an interview many decades ago, “Life is once, forever.”

“A Photographic Memory,” is a daughter’s tribute to her mother. The viewer gets a front-row seat as she develops a deeply personal connection through surviving visual and audio documentation. Her journey was inspiring. Her film gives her mother’s legacy a well-deserved place in the history of photography.

Two Sues on the Aisle bases its ratings on how many challahs (1-5) it pays to buy (rather than make) to see the play, show, film, book, or exhibit being reviewed.

“A Photographic Memory” received 4 Challahs