Generations


  • Photographer
    Maja Flink
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    june-july 2012
  • Technical Info
    Analog 4x5 inch

These portraits are taken in Lagos, Nigeria 2012. They are part of an ongoing series called 'Generations' photographed around the world. The portraits are always taken in peoples home environment and I photograph women and men separately.

Story

My photographs are documents, testaments of things that already exist. The people that inhabit my portraits do not play a role. They are not actors or models. They are not used to be in front of a camera, and as I prepare to take the image I make an effort to make sure they maintain a measure of honesty in the way they present themselves. The environments in which I photograph them are not artificial. My work has taken me to many corners of the world, and in places such as Bhutan, Nigeria, Colombia and Sweden I’ve found love, the search for identity and the bonds of blood that form family relationships.

My work is driven by a dynamic tension between the global and the local. On one hand, I’m propelled by an insatiable curiosity to see the world, meet people and learn about different cultures which has taken me to many corners of the world. On the other I’m always looking for the values and subjects that are common to all of us, regardless of where we come from. I´m interested in the human experiences that bind us not matter where you are from geographically or socially.

The photographs I have submitted are part of an ongoing series called ´Generations´. These particular ones are taken in Lagos during 2012. The portraits are composed of two or three family members of the same gender but different generations: father and son, mother and daughter. They are taken in peoples homes and most of the time I have never met them when I arrive with my camera. Therefore its very important to me that the experience becomes as comfortable and positive to them as possible. They have welcomed me into their personal and private space and when I´m there it's not just about the picture I´m taking but also about the encounter. I want the photograph to mean something to the mother or daughter, father or son that I´m photographing.

I started this generation project several years back. One of the first I took was a self portrait of me, my mother and my grandmother. I was 25 at the time, my mother was 57 and my grandmother 83. We knew my grandmother was ill but we did not know to what extent. She passed away four days after the photograph was taken. Since then the project came to life.

I have photographed generations during my travels around the world. The project is about searching for your own identity. How do you explain the complex relationship between two adults, mother and daughter, father and son? As someone’s child, your relationship to your parent changes through your own stages of live. Sometimes you need to distance yourself and sometimes you need to connect. I want my portraits to talk about this eternal struggle to become your own independent person and at the same time reconcile with the ties that will always be a part of who you are.

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