Small World - part two introduces the mothers and fathers of the children depicted in part one. I have been photographing the two families for over 10 years, an evolving long term project.
The images are candid and made of simple, unremarkable moments in everyday life, never staged. I watch, observe, and on occasion, gestures, lines, shapes and forms are arranged and a picture is gifted to me. An unrecoverable fleeting moment in time.
My long term project is about fatherhood, grand-fatherhood, on motherhood and grand-motherhood. These are inseparable. The point of view of a father and a grandfather. A journal of moments in a life lived and perceived.
I am compelled to find and record a poetic, romantic story, a notion that all is well and beautiful in this small world. To show that affection and love can provide a sense of belonging and warmth, and that joy is profound.
We can relate to our own childhoods, the joys and challenges. My hope is that the images hold up a mirror to show us that we are all more similar to one another than we are different. That we can see or feel something of ourselves, and others, in these pictures. The personal thus becoming the universal.
