Elinor Carucci - Closer

My mother was the first person I ever photographed and I still take pictures of her obsessively. I started portraying her when I was fifteen, using my father’s old Canon camera. Gradually, in concentric circles, the subjects of my work expanded. From my mother to my father and brother, to the extended family, until, in recent years, the center shifted, at least partially, to my husband, Eran.

The camera was, in this sense, both a way to get close, and to break free. It was a testimony to independence as well as a new way to relate. A boundary, a distance, as well as the documentation of closeness. I could see my mother, my husband, my father, at once in a detached and a related way.

I can only say something universal about intimacy through actual intimacy. Mine. The actual real relationships I have with specific people. With these people that I love. The deepest I can reach is within what is most familiar and close.

Mother puts on my lipstick. 1993

Making the bed. 1996

Eran and I. 1998

My mother and I in a hotel room. 1998

Photographs and text: Elinor Carucci

If you like this post, please upvote and leave your comment below. To view more pictures from this story and learn more about Elinor go to: https://www.workshopx.org/portfolio-elinor-carucci-closer/