My Mother, Father, Ann and the kids.

 

My extended family appears in the photographs, the place is every place, the time is any time. The images are always my family.

Although my parents are separated, they are neighbors who show up for visits often. When I was growing up I moved with my mother into a new home, although I left all of my furniture and belongings at my father's house.

In consequence, there were two places I could call home. Even as two families we were always unified, spending our days together, on Saturdays and holidays among other days.

In our village our neighbors also treated us as one family. As a child there was nothing I wanted more than a normal set of parents, and I grew up to accept my parents for the people they were.

The photographs are filled with imagination, they tell the story of my life through experiences I have had and feelings I have felt.

At the same time, they are disconnected from me and are based on societal and cultural myths. In my work I searched for the beauty and the dark side that exists in every family.

I attempted to examine the secrets that are concealed in every home and are made-up of the intimacy of relationships of family members. In the photographs I tried to maintain the very things that I love, to hold onto my family near and dear to me, while at the same time to be a side-viewer and critic.

My family members are continuously involved in my creative process, yet do not understand it. My feelings for them are ambivalent- I love them and at the same breath refuse them. They remain close yet distant, essential to whom I am.

 

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