The relationship between a French teenage single mother and her son has always been peculiar. The mother, born in Aubervilliers in 1983, had a complicated life. Abandoned by her mother with her grandfather and siblings as an infant, she was initially sent to a foster home and later lived with her grandmother until the age of 16, when her grandmother passed away. She then moved in with her brother.At 18, she became pregnant by an abusive man from whom she eventually fled, while working as a photographer in a small studio in Paris. During the son’s childhood, their relationship was peaceful despite their precarious conditions. However, things worsened when the mother fell in love with an Italian man, leading to a move to Milan.
Adolescence brought further complications due to the son’s rebellious nature and the mother’s severe aggressive drinking problem, which resulted in years of estrangement after she expelled him from the house at 19. In 2015, at the age of 42, the mother suffered a stroke that caused physical and psychological handicaps, leaving her with lasting memory issues.
The most heartbreaking aspect was seeing the illness strip away her free and proud spirit, revealing a new, vulnerable side of her. Photography became a therapeutic tool for both, helping them accept her new condition and reconnect with her past through notes, diaries, and old photographs.
This therapeutic approach transformed their relationship, fostering new emotional connections and dialogue through images from her archives and new ones taken during visits. Photography now deeply connects them, with the mother, also a photographer, understanding and respecting the son’s work.
The project aims to explore the son’s origins and the complex, intense relationship with his mother through photography. For the first time, he sees his mother as a woman and himself as a son, not just as individuals.