boundaries to be defined

Last summer I started a personal project. I went on holiday with my family and with the intention of portraying them. It was the right moment as we all met together abroad for first time after my father's death. So, I loaded my bag with my digital SLR for those holiday photos and my 35mm film camera to point at my family members.

For a while I thought of not doing it as one of my sisters wasn't able to come with us. However, I decided to carry on with the project as I realized that if I wanted to make an accurate portrait of my family I needed much more than a week's holiday and I should extend it for a longer period of time (many years?).

In some way it's a normal family. It has good moments to enjoy and bad ones to deal with. It's in one of those bad moments that I lost the chance of doing something personal and intense when my father passed away. It came to mind to take the photo of him in the coffin and some still-life to capture some of his belongings and his environment at home. I wasn't brave enough, though. I couldn't take that photo of him and, therefore, I didn't take any of the still-life ones.

For my project I've done some research. For instance, I like the way Annie Leibovitz approached her own family. She showed Susan Sontag and her own mother in a very respectful way, far away from the Richard Billingham's approach of his parents. He says they are happy with their son's photos, however, I wouldn't be able to show my family in that way. My project is not likely to be as extensive as the Ana Casas Broda's one but, who knows?, time will tell.

In my family there is an element which would be of Diane Arbus' interest. It's my sister's disability. I couldn't say I'm proud of her disability because it's something you cannot be proud of but I'm not ashamed of it. I just accept it. So, I don't have any problem in showing her in my photos, nevertheless, it doesn't mean she doesn't deserve the same respect that everybody else does. I don't feel I'm exploiting her disability and I wouldn't base the whole project on her as there are so many other subjects and relationships to cover. However, she's my main concern.