Father and son

Ongoing project


"To Touch is To Give Life." - Michelangelo


As a father of two little boys, not so little by the day, I have realized how quickly a time will come when they won't need me to walk them to school while firmly holding their hands. 

As a photographer, I came up with the idea to make a portrait of my 95-year-old grandfather and my father holding hands. It then turned into a longer journey than I had expected.

Following the start of the pandemic we decided to keep my grandfather safe so we couldn't meet for almost a year. In early spring, I stopped before a house that had captured my interest. The door of the house opened to let out a woman pushing a man in a wheelchair. The woman approached me, holding tightly a portrait of a young man. “This was our only son,” she said. “He passed away 8 months ago. My husband would like to take a picture with him.”

I started taking portraits of other fathers and their adult sons. Holding hands became a way to unite within something that had been unwillingly separated. While posing, fathers and sons held hands for the first time in years, sometimes decades. This act of intimacy became the project's main purpose, the photos being just a mere testament to the long-unspoken love between the men. This unusual form of participatory photography revealed many important aspects of the father-son relationship, their vulnerability, and their varying levels of interaction and acceptance.

Sofia, Bulgaria, 2021

Haskovo, Bulgaria, 2022

Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, 2023

Zafirovo, Bulgaria, 2022

Knizhovnik, Bulgaria, 2023

Pirgovo, Bulgaria, 2022

Bistritsa, Bulgaria, 2023

Petvar, Bulgaria, 2022

Madan, Bulgaria, 2022

Altınyayla, Turkey, 2022

Shipka, Bulgaria, 2023

Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, 2023

Varna, Bulgaria, 2021

Sofia, Bulgaria, 2023

Dobrich, Bulgaria, 2021

Pazardzhik, Bulgaria, 2023

Nova Zagora, Bulgaria, 2023

Batak, Bulgaria, 2022

Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, 2021

Kubrat, Bulgaria, 2023

Sofia, Bulgaria, 2023

Varna, Bulgaria, 2023

Varna, Bulgaria, 2023

Razgrad, Bulgaria, 2023

Orla, Serbia, 2022

Gradishte, Bulgaria, 2023

Shumen, Bulgaria, 2023

Altınyayla, Turkey, 2022

Sevlievo, Bulgaria, 2023

Denizli, Turkey, 2022

Pazardzhik, Bulgaria, 2023

Krapets, Bulgaria, 2023

Ivanski, Bulgaria, 2023

Simeonovgrad, Bulgaria, 2023

Dedets, Bulgaria, 2021

Padartsi, Bulgaria, 2023

Zaraevo, Bulgaria, 2023

Shumen, Bulgaria, 2023

Bolyarovo, Bulgaria, 2023

Sofia, Bulgaria, 2022

Pleven, Bulgaria, 2023

Dolno varshilo, Bulgaria, 2023

Varna, Bulgaria, 2023

Gorno Ablanovo, Bulgaria, 2022

Pleven, Bulgaria, 2023

Teteven, Bulgaria, 2023

Lukovit, Bulgaria, 2023

Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 2022

The project has been realized with the financial support of The National Culture Fund of Bulgaria. | Проектът "Баща и син" се реализира с финансовата подкрепа на НФ "Култура" по програма "Социално ангажирани изкуства".