Family Love by Darcy Padilla
A Book Review
“The most important thing in the world is family and love.”
— John Wooden
I spend a lot of my time studying other photographers – not to copy or emulate, but to educate and inspire myself.
I have a photo book collection of maybe 300 tomes or so. Many of which are signed or 1st editions and as much as I hunt out rare and collectable photobooks, I get them not to sit on a shelf and collect dust and value, but to look at.
To consume, to pour over and engross me in the imagery and the stories within the pages.
Photobooks wrapped in polythene and never looked at “because it will affect their value” is a little bit like having a classic car and never driving it for me and I genuinely want to own a book because of its contents, not because of its value.
My photobook collection is growing, and whilst Gemma eyes me very suspiciously when I disappear into the deepest recesses of an old antique store hunting down photobooks, it’s something I love to do, have a professional interest in, and I kind of feel like these books that have been lovingly curated and often beautifully made need a home from someone who is going to appreciate them.
Now, some of you who study social and documentary photography as I do will likely have heard of the photographer Darcy Padilla.
When I first saw Darcy’s work, I was stopped in my tracks.
Darcy is an American photojournalist who specializes in contemporary issues and long-term projects and she is the recipient of three World Press Photo award for her work The Julie Project.
And it is The Julie Project, which whilst the title seems incongruously benign, the context of the subject and the depth of images is possibly the most powerful piece of photographic work I have ever experienced.
Experienced, seems like an odd adjective to apply to a photo essay, but it is an experience and if you have never seen this body of work before, then I think you will also want to experience it too.
In Darcy’s own words:
“This is the story of the Fyffe Family. Jack is 20 and Julie is 18. Her daughter, Rachel is 8 days old. Julie and Jack are HIV positive. Rachel tested negative. Julie was abused by her stepdad when she was a child. At 14, she ran away from home. She spent her life since then more or less on the streets. Rachel gave her a reason to live.”
— Darcy Padilla
The Julie Project manifests itself in the most beautiful book called Family Love. It seems to only be available in French text and published by Editions de la Martinière.
The text is important, but if your French is not good, then we are blessed with a moving film that can currently be found on YouTube.
I encourage you to watch the film with a broad mind and an empathetic eye:
The book, the images, the film, you see, all have this incredible empathy with The Fyffe family.
Darcy has spent 21 years with the family and the intimacy of the images is tangible. The story is heartbreaking, but that does not stop it from being beautiful. Even though the subject is difficult, the story will always remain beautiful.
This is a story that has been crafted with love, rather than exploitation. It’s a story that is defined by the most gracious monochrome imagery that enables us, the voyeuristic bystander, to take a peek, unencumbered by modern censorship, into a life that has been lived and a story that should always be told.
From a photographic point of view, the images in their truest sense are not always technically perfect.
But who cares? In fact, who would ever dare to dilute the strength of this essay by analysing the techniques?
Darcy is a well-qualified photographer of great standing. Her understanding of that trinity of light, composition and moment is beyond anything many of us will ever comprehend.
The gritty nature of the film used and the incredible talent of Darcy to see these moments makes each image a masterpiece.
This is not a book that you should page flick, or randomly delve into. For this review, of course, I’m doing that to show you what lies inside the pages.
But the story within is chronological, and each image, in my mind, should be looked at not from a photographer’s point of view, but from the point of view of somebody who is being told this incredible story.
You see, the context of this book is one of education and understanding, it’s one of love and empathy and it’s one of total and utter beauty.
As the story unfolds, I found myself smiling and I found myself on several occasions in tears.
I am not looking at these images and trying to establish the shot.
I am not looking at the images and wondering how?
I am looking at the shots and believing in the true art of photojournalism and a story that absolutely had to be told, and the medium of photography being the best way of telling that story.
The book itself, in its physical sense, is joyous to hold. The curators of the book have not bowed to pressures from book shops to steer away from landscape orientated form.
Each image is presented in the correct ratio to the right of the spread, which allows our eyes to naturally fall on the most essential element.
To the left, is the text, sometimes detailed, sometimes less so but I believe the book designers have given the images space to breathe as they so deserve.
A strong binding and simple cover is a nod to the power of the story inside.
For me, personally, some of the most powerful images are used in exploring the often-turbulent relationship between adults and children.
As a father myself, when I see some of these images, it makes me weep. There are beautiful portraits of family life within the pages of Family Love and there are also some tragic episodes that balance this thing we call life so precariously.
With any image in this book, I fell deeply into the sense of the moment. Some of the wider context-setting images made me want to explore more. See what was around the back of the house, enter the garden, get a better understanding of the environment.
And that is a great skill of Darcy Padilla. If we see images that we want to ask questions about the context, rather than about the technique, then the picture is winning.
Some of the more very emotional images are incredibly powerful and again, Darcy’s empathy for Julie and Jack is tangible.
These images are a gritty reminder of someone’s everything. It is a sad, happy, beautiful, loving story.
It is a long-term project where Darcy has not held back in any way. The passion it emits is unsurmountable and It is obvious why this story won so many prizes.
Darcy Padilla’s Family Love is a book that everybody should experience, whether you are a photographer or not.
Links
Lens Culture explores the work in Family Love
Darcy Padilla / Website
British Journal of Photography article regarding Julie’s Story
Book Details
Title: Family Love
Publisher: Editions de La Martiniere
Publication Date: 9th October 2014
Language: French
ISBN-10: 2732464988
ISBN-13: 978-2732464985
Retail Price (UK): around £50
You can purchase the book via Amazon UK here (affiliate link)
Copyright Notification
Photographs of the book are © Kevin Mullins. The images in the book at copyrighted by the respected publisher and/or photographer(s). No reuse permission granted.