The Fabric Of Lost Parenthood

When I was young, my father always made me lunch for school, like fathers do, right? When I was eleven years old, I lost him. From now on, I had to make lunch myself. It wasn’t about those daily pieces of bread in the morning. It was about the love and care that suddenly disappeared. It changed the way I looked at life; it made me feel lost in longing.

I might not be able to control the world, but I could still control the way I looked at the world. I would like to tell my father who I am now, where I am going and I wonder, for example, what he would think, what he would be like now and what he would think of the world?

My curiosity is big, but it is curiosity that will never be answered. I’m not melancholic to the past, I don’t miss it, I just miss what I never had, something that could have been.

The Fabric of Lost Parenthood is a photographic project in which I portray people who, like myself, lost a parent at a young age. At the heart of each portrait is a specific piece of clothing once belonging to that parent, a tangible memory filled with stories. With this project, I aim to make those memories visible: the connection, the loss, and what remains. Because together feels better than alone.

TEAM CREDITS:

talents LYNN, TEUN, DAAN, PEPIJN & MARK 
photography MANON DIJKMAN 

A young woman with short light brown hair wearing a vintage blue racing jacket with patches and beige shorts.
A side profile of a young man with curly hair and a light beard, wearing a brown leather jacket with a shearling collar, against a neutral background.
A young man with curly blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a tan leather jacket with a shearling collar, sitting against a plain brown background.
A man with curly hair and a beard standing barefoot on a crumpled paper backdrop, wearing a dark sports jacket and beige shorts, with a small smiley face tattoo on his right thigh.
A young man with light brown, slightly curly hair and blue eyes, wearing a dark blue sports jacket with a zippered collar and a logo on the chest, sitting against a neutral beige background.
Brown leather shearling jacket hanging on a wooden hanger against a beige wall.
A blue leather jacket with red, white, and gray stripe details, lying on beige crumpled paper or fabric.
A woman with short, reddish-brown hair and blue eyes wearing a light blue motorcycle jacket with patches and red, white, and beige stripes stands against a plain background.
A young man with curly hair and light skin standing barefoot on a wrinkled beige fabric backdrop. He is wearing an oversized, tan leather jacket with a shearling lining, but no shirt or pants.