Borrowed Grandparents

Self-portrait photography project where I recreate with 9 actors and in their own homes a memory that does not exist for me: The relationship with my grandparents.

Starting from the fact that memory is not reality, but only the memories that we believe we have lived, this self-portrait photographic project aims to create a memory of what I did not live, to fabricate, through the will and the resources of representation, memories of a relationship with my grandmothers and grandfathers.

I asked several friends about the most important memories with their grandmothers and grandfathers, these writings full of emotion, longing and inevitably, sadness, marked the way.

If living is the first requirement to generate memory, can this in its fragility be manufactured? Created without denoting the seams of its manufacture? In this project I investigate the answer to these questions. Nine actors accompany this search, contributing their experiences, sensitivity, talent and even their own homes.

The project is articulated from the Brechtine technique of distancing that seeks to confront the spectator with the truth, taking him out of an illusory world.

This project does not intend to deceive the spectator, it is not documentary photography, it does not seek the truth. Rather, they are performative gestures, acts of intervention where what matters is not fidelity to the memory, but the possibility of it existing.

I am interested in taking a concept to its ultimate consequences, this work is made with this premise, the emotions created in its realization remain in me and in the rest of the team.

© Moník Molinet - Image from the Borrowed Grandparents photography project
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Borrowed Grandmothers2024This photograph was the only one of 29 memories, in which the action was focused on the act ofphotographing: the family photo. It is a tribute to Richard Avedon, one of my first references, andto his anecdote "Borrowed Dogs".

© Moník Molinet - Breakfast conversation at my grandmother Tania P. and my grandfather Otto's house
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Breakfast conversation at my grandmother Tania P. and my grandfather Otto's house

© Moník Molinet - Bathing Bandolero with my grandfather José
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Bathing Bandolero with my grandfather José

© Moník Molinet - Homemade spa with my grandmother Tania P
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Homemade spa with my grandmother Tania P

© Moník Molinet - Trying my grandmother's Tania D. beans.
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Trying my grandmother's Tania D. beans.

© Moník Molinet - Nap after lunch with my grandmother Estela and my grandfather Adalberto
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Nap after lunch with my grandmother Estela and my grandfather Adalberto

© Moník Molinet - Surprise birthday for my grandmother Tania D.
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Surprise birthday for my grandmother Tania D.

© Moník Molinet - Dancing afternoon with my grandmother Julia
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Dancing afternoon with my grandmother Julia

© Moník Molinet - Gatherings and coffee at my grandmothers Julia and Ester's house
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Gatherings and coffee at my grandmothers Julia and Ester's house

© Moník Molinet - Listening to my grandfather Adalberto's notes to not forget
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Listening to my grandfather Adalberto's notes to not forget

© Moník Molinet - My grandmother Estela drank too much coffee and her blood pressure went up
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My grandmother Estela drank too much coffee and her blood pressure went up

© Moník Molinet - It's Christmas Eve, my grandfather René is not alone.
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It's Christmas Eve, my grandfather René is not alone.

© Moník Molinet - My grandfather Otto teaches me photography
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My grandfather Otto teaches me photography

© Moník Molinet - In the office of my grandmother Julia, feminist philosopher and poet, reading her latestpublication
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In the office of my grandmother Julia, feminist philosopher and poet, reading her latestpublication

© Moník Molinet - The Farewell
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The Farewell

Borrowed Grandparents by Moník Molinet

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