Reader’s Art 12: Longing for Home

 Amandine Nabarra Piomelli

The Caretaker

A series of 14 photographs based on a true story (see below) and presented as a centered accordion book in a fabric-like box. The title of the box is hidden by the band to keep the secret of the story safe. Some secrets become obsessions and can change the course of one’s life. This metamorphosis is at the heart of a project made of several artistic short stories. One of them, The Caretaker, is based on the life of Mrs. T. On her wedding day, her aunt, who she thought was her mother broke the secret about her parents’ identity. This shocking revelation slowly changed Mrs. T.’s destiny and sent her off to roam about the world in search of her father.

Mrs. T.’s Vietnamese mother had met a Chinese man in Hong Kong, but their love story was short-lived. Returning home to care for her dying mother, she realized she was pregnant. Two years after Mrs. T.’s birth, her mother died and the little girl was raised by her aunt who hid the identity of her parents until her wedding day. Before the ceremony, the bride received a box containing an old photo of a young man and a golden ring that her mother had left for her. After spending the next 20 years raising her children, Mrs. T. decides to leave her family to find her father. In order to finance her quest, she will work as a caretaker.

Reader’s Art 12: Longing for Home

March 16- April 26