When I was young

Three years ago, my grandmother died of cancer. I remember the day my mother called me to say that grandma is sick. It was one of those moments when everything - people, thoughts, feelings - just fade away. Instantly. I loved her very much. Because I stood by her in the hospital and in those days of horror, I can't think of her as the fabulous person she was. I just see the sickness, the pills and that never ending hope that she would overcome sickness. She didn't even knew, until the end, that she was that sick.
Through this project, I'm trying to rediscover those elements - people, objects, actions - that made my childhood fantastic. I want to exorcize the sickness, because it's still there. This is work in progress and it is harder than I though it would be.

Old me vs new me.

My mother and my two uncles.

My grandfather and the statues I used to play with as a child.

Little pleasures of childhood.

My grandma made this amazing black cherries jam and we used to eat it for dessert.

The cheap, but tasty dessert that my father used to make for us.

My grandfather's earth globe.

My grandparent's map of Romania.

My grandparent's wall carpet.

This was the sign that I would soon arrive at my aunt's house. I used to love this cross and when I was a child, there was a nice tree instead of the ugly house.

Grandma's delicious jam cookies.

The telephone my brother and I used when talking with my parents who lived in a different city when we were very little.

My grandfather's hobby.

As a child, I always thought this was a picture of my mother because the woman looked a lot like my mother.

My grandfather, still faithful to his passion - repairing things.

That's my grandma in the middle.

That's all I have left of my grandma.

 Diana Gândilă (proiect fotografic personal)