3rd Place, Alice Cannara Malan, Italy

My (m)other

The project is a personal reflection on the relationships between family members.

My family was the core of my research. The aim was to capture dynamics typical in families. What I found was how much hiding occurs in family relationships; hiding one another’s uncertainty, suffering, character flaws and, of course, love.

My father Pier Paolo is 56 years old and almost deaf. Much as we love each other, we don’t understand each other. I have contradictory feelings about him; but mainly I wish I could save him from his readiness to shoulder the loads of others, although this is his dominant trait.

My sister Sofia is 24 years old and lonely. I feel constantly guilty because of her jealousy of my relationship with our mother; she even doubts our mother’s love for her.

Over the years my relationship with my mother has taught me much. I discovered how important the context in which a person grows up is, how this changes the way they see the world around them and, most importantly, how it influences the way they relate to others.
After a long personal journey, I can now recognise my father as an authority, see my sister as the unique person that she is and look at my mother as a person separate from me.

This collection of photographs is a work in progress. To me, they represent a way to overcome my past, to forge my own path.