Pedigree and provenance

A good pedigree can have a lot of value.

Who are your parents, who were your teachers, where did you go to school? People might want your work because of this, but what if you can’t do anything to change it? You could perhaps win prizes or go to a better school. This may or may not help. For all of these, you are asking someone else to give you something to add to your pedigree. You might not win. You might not get in.

Provenance, is harder to pin down than pedigree. It’s the story of your work and even what happened to your work after you were finished with it, sold it, or discarded it and moved on. It isn’t a master document of your achievements. It can and will change throughout your life and beyond.

Vivian Maier is a photographer famous not for her pedigree but for the provenance of her work which was ‘discovered’ after her death as well as the quality and quantity of her work. It’s a compelling story.

A compelling story can have a lot of value.