As a father of two growing boys, I’ve come to realise how quickly the day will arrive when they will no longer need me to hold their hands on the way to school. Inspired by this thought, I initially set out to photograph my 95-year-old grandfather and my father holding hands. The project soon evolved into something much larger than I had anticipated.
In a world that is already growing apart, holding hands becomes a silent prayer, a way to come together again. While posing, fathers and sons hold hands for the first time in years, sometimes decades. It’s a powerful moment, often filled with hesitation or resistance, that reveals our cultural heritage but also the universal appeal of connection, legacy, and vulnerability in our human experience.
Spanning diverse cultures, reaching corners of 11 countries, “Father and Son” highlights the singularity of identity shaped by family, religion, customs and gender norms. In these interactions, we see individual identities emerging within shared familial narratives, illustrating how deeply personal and culturally influenced by tradition our life paths are. By leaving the narratives behind these portraits open to interpretation, I invite viewers to add their own layers of meaning, making us all contributors to this evolving story of humanity.
