‘Kindly Ghosts (Family Photographs)’ is an ongoing series of watercolours based on family photographs that have been passed down through generations and which Gov has meticulously collected and preserved. The original photographs depict relatives and ancestors who have passed away long ago, individuals who are slowly becoming impossible to recognise or to identify, as any relatives who personally knew them passed away as well.

The series of watercolours offers a visual translation of the perpetual state of the individuals depicted in the photographs - following intergenerational migration and displacement, the context in which they led their lives alongside their languages, habits and collective rituals have become inaccessible, leaving their fading shadows as the only intelligible trace of their existence. They are friendly ghosts, whose existence is documented, but the actual person each of them was - their laughs, their pains, their loves and their memories - is destined to remain unreachable and forgotten.

The light blue shade of the figures hints at the natural process of transformation of photographs and other printed matter when exposed to the sun. While blue is a lightfast and permanent pigment, the reds, yellows and pinks are considered “fugitive colours” - they disappear with time, leaving the blue by its own.