Description
Her Fragile Life is an ongoing exploration of the intricate, shielded, and bittersweet world of my older sister, who has been struggling with anorexia for almost 40 years. It is a visual dialogue exploring resilience, dependency, and the complex interplay between vulnerability and self-determination. As in all my work, I am drawn to the tension between what is revealed and what remains hidden. This project explores my sister’s daily life in her inner and outer worlds, captured through illness photography.
Over time, I have begun to use a portable studio to highlight aspects of her environment, exposing her particular version of beauty and self-expression without distraction. Despite the precarious nature of her condition, her choices testify to the inner strength found in the midst of struggle. Through this real life photography project, I seek to balance her perspective on beauty and joy with my own reflections on illness, addiction, and the quiet moments of joy that still exist—for her, and perhaps for all of us.
The visual language of Her Fragile Life moves beyond simple documentation and extends beyond the personal, touching on themes of care, societal expectations, and the blurred boundaries between protection and control. What does it mean to be fragile in a world that demands strength? Where does freedom truly lie when one’s survival depends on others? This project challenges conventional narratives around mental health by offering a deeply personal yet open-ended view of fragility—not as something to be fixed, but as a layered and essential part of being human. This work can also be viewed as mental illness photography, offering insight into the complexity of living with such conditions.
Her Fragile Life invites viewers to venture beyond assumptions, to sit with discomfort, and to recognize the beauty within imperfection, transience, and the delicate spaces between struggle and survival. It is an example of artistic fine art photography that seeks to capture not only the human condition but the delicate balance of illness photography.