I've talked about my love for Flak Photo here before and yesterday it was affirmed. Tonight on Facebook, Flak Photo's Andy Adams
is hosting a live, interactive Q&A with Phil and members of the Flak Photo Fan Page. The Q&A started last night and it was awesome. Phil was answering questions real-time and the questions were not just about "Days With My Father" and the recent publication of the collection in a book but they ranged from his past projects to his new book to future gallery shows to inspiration.
If you're on Facebook I highly recommend you join the Flak Photo Fan Page to join in the discussion tonight either actively or passively and also to learn more about Flak Photo and check out all the cool photography-related links posted there.
In the meantime, take a look at these photos by Phil Toledano and read this text that I copied from his website describing "Days With My Father".
My Mum died suddenly on September 4th, 2006
After she died, I realized how much she’d been shielding me from my father’s mental state. He didn’t have Alzheimers, but he had no short-term memory, and was often lost.
I took him to the funeral, but when we got home, he’d keep asking me every 15 minutes where my mother was. I had to explain over and over again, that she had died.
This was shocking news to him.
Why had no-one told him?
Why hadn’t I taken him to the funeral?
Why hadn’t he visited her in the hospital?
He had no memory of these events.
After a while, I realized I couldn’t keep telling him that his wife had died. He didn’t remember, and it was killing both of us, to constantly re-live her death.
I decided to tell him she’d gone to Paris, to take care of her brother, who was sick.
‘Days with my father’ is a journal.
A record of our relationship, and the time we spent over the last three years.
2006-2009
Published by Chronicle Books in 2010.
All images Copyright Phillip Toledano
3 comments:
wow. I'm not sure I know exactly what to say here. No words could at all add to the beauty of the images or the love you can just the son has for his dad. The humor, the love, the beauty. It's all truly exceptional. Alzheimers is absolutely devastating. While the first image and the last two truly make my heart smile an incredible amount, its the 3rd shot that also breaks my heart. My dad is now 70, and while he is completely mobile, active, full of life, no signs at all of any slowing down and loves life to the fullest, has energy actually more then I do ....I always worry. He is my everything.
thank you so much for sharing this.
I've seen his work before and read about the project, and reading it here breaks my heart all over again. I can't imagine being in that position. The photos, however, are completely stunning...
wow, i just got completely lost in the entire story..and then had to send it on to lots of other people, who all love their dad's and will be sad when he goes. it has inspired me to capture my gorgeous parents in their own light.
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