http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/
Finding Philip Toledano's work was a very emotional experience for me. Touching on the issues of an elderly parent who is dying, for me felt very brave and very intimate. In this book, Toledano is going through the process of saying goodbye to his father who has short term memory loss but also about finding a new relationship in which he is also celebrating the strengths of his father that he may not have been able to fully appreciate had they not ended up in this experience together.
Having had a very similar experience with my own father, supporting him for 3 years before he died of cancer, I was deeply touched by this work. He definitely caught the emotion one feels in this situation in which I could relate to.
Ageing and death is something we will all face and the issues surrounding this are hard to express.
A very real, emotional struggle that many people have to go through when parents age and roles change.
For his father, is seems that the reality of his own ageing is a painful experience which shows that he needs his son not only to support him in daily care, and the issues of his illness but also,to support him emotionally.Here the roles do change and the love given to Toledano as a child by his parents bonds his responsibility to his father.
The humour and sadness of these images show the love between a father and son and the realisation of mortality for both individuals. The muted, blueish green colours work together with each image to support the feel of the work. The light in these images is truly beautiful and natural and captures the essence of the emotion.
Personally, this work gives me respect for Toledano for the braveness to enter into this work and also, photography itself as a powerful medium which allows us to step into truly private and beautiful moments which are essentially, as Toledano expresses, about love which is after all, universal.
Just watched this again, so powerful. If nothing else I suppose it's just a really nice way to spend time with a loved one through a sad time.
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