"With & Without You"
A photo book that juxtaposes old photographs of my mother captured by my father, and recent photos captured by myself after her departure.
A photo book that juxtaposes old photographs of my mother captured by my father, and recent photos captured by myself after her departure.
A journey through love, life and loss.
Presented by VSCO and 823, winner of the plaza x h&d creative fund for the best creative idea
Presented by VSCO and 823, winner of the plaza x h&d creative fund for the best creative idea
"Present stands still
past flows
and memories sometimes agree
sometimes they collide
life looked way better in
and through your eyes
when it feels like what stays is forever gone
lend me your eyes
they led me 'till now
and I hope they will lead me again"
I have been wanting to celebrate my dad’s photograpy for a while now, in an “official” type of way. I owe him my love for photography. And I owe my mom my eye for the little things... such a powerful combo. She would say, talking about the photos and her notes: “so when I’m old I will look at them all and relive them again”. My mom passed away in 2020, three years ago, as I’m writing this. I am proud to say that I look so much like her, in the body, the heart and the soul. We have so many nice photos from my dad, and I was fortunate enough to have a sweet childhood, so they speak to my heart with a special warm voice. Even though for this book I did not choose his best photos. I picked them taking into consideration feelings, places, and only lastly, the look. I traveled both alone and with my dad to these places to recreate his photos, while the first ones immortalise the things in my house that have stayed in the same place as they were since the day my mom was hospitalised.
The book itself is inspired by Ernst’s book “65 Maximiliana or the Illegal Practice of Astronomy” from 1964. The title refers to a planetoid discovered in 1861 by the German astronomer Ernst Wilhelm Tempel. As Ernst did, even though in a different way, I pay homage to Tempel and Ernst as kindred spirits seeking to represent domains outside ordinary human perception. In particular, I took inspiration from the 28th page, where he writes about how his stars led him until then, and how he hoped they would keep leading him. It’s a piece that has always been close to my heart, and it’s even closer since my mom passed away. So I compared her and her eyes to stars, with the floating constellation-like typography. The hard-to-say, broken words connects the before and the after her passing like a burdensome path to walk by.
Hard cover, A5
62 pages
160gsm paper
Edition of 26, each containing a sticky note print from my mom's diary, dated 1993.
Thanks to those whom accompanied me through this journey and most of all, thanks to those whom every day decide to stay. Thank you Eleonora, for being there when it all happened. Thanks to VSCO and 823 for believing in this. The Hopes & Dreams club’s team, you all have been such a blessing. Thank you Mel for making me feel warm again, thank you Lyn, Hika, Jess for your ears and your love, Lily for your vulnerability. Thank you Hwee for teaching me kindness, Suzanne for bringing me back to life. Thank you Simo, Emi, Sean, Leo, Nicholas, Thomas for being brothers to me, Sammy for our shared sessions, Davide for your eyes and ideas, Massi, Alberto and Ghia for always being real. Thank you Dani for your help, thank you Adrian, Cata, Antoan, Bri, Nikki, Danielle, Yuli, Mark, Gabe, Lucas for your kind words and support. Thanks to every H&D club’s members for inspiring me, creatively and emotionally. I wouldn’t have made it without you. And thank you Regan for reuniting so many kind souls: as humans we attract similar energy, and a beautiful soul such as yours made this possible.
Grazie a papà e ai miei fratelli, Fede e Gabri, per avermi sempre trattato con amore e riguardo. Vi voglio tanto bene.
And thanks to my mom, for being such a true person and passionate artist. And for writing notes about, and teaching me the importance of, love behind the little things and words.
Please keep spreading love in little (and big!) gestures.
Vale :)