Controcanto

  • Dates
    2018 - 2019
  • Author
  • Topics Daily Life, Social Issues, Documentary

I have always taken photographs of my family, here I tell you about my father.

In August of three years ago he was diagnosed with tongue cancer. Urgent operation. The intervention involved 6/8 hours work. They warned us that probably, the long anesthesia, would have worsened the situation linked to a very slight form of senile dementia, of which he suffered.

Short-term events were forgotten.

Unfortunately, the situation has completely degenerated.

I remember that the day of the operation he comforted us and said that everything would be fine.

I did not recognize him anymore. Another person left the operating room.

My father is no longer present, he is no longer self-sufficient, he remembers practically nothing.

Our lives have changed.

My father always painted and laughed. He laughed almost too much to disguise the fear of old age that gripped him.

Here is everything I've tried, and what I feel now.

The work ends when my father, no longer self-sufficient, moves from home. And now that he hardly reminds about us and what we have been, I can finish telling.

© Sara Munari - 1. The sky above my father's house 2. Preparation for the operation. Patients are totally shaved to avoid infections
i

1. The sky above my father's house 2. Preparation for the operation. Patients are totally shaved to avoid infections

© Sara Munari - Image from the Controcanto photography project
i

3. Palette of my father who has always been a painter 4. Phrenology. Table showing the different areas of the brain. Phrenology is a pseudoscientific doctrine according to which the individual psychic functions depend on particular areas or regions of the brain

© Sara Munari - Image from the Controcanto photography project
i

5. My father at the hospital awaiting surgery for tongue cancer, for which total anesthesia is planned. 6. Suspected thyroid nodule

© Sara Munari - 7. My father, in the hospital, for a check. Medical and neuropsychiatric checks are regular, after surgery
i

7. My father, in the hospital, for a check. Medical and neuropsychiatric checks are regular, after surgery

© Sara Munari - Image from the Controcanto photography project
i

8.Deterioration of cells in the presence of dementia and Alzheimer's 9. Seagulls on Como Lake, where we live. Before the surgery my father often went to the lake, now he does not do it anymore

© Sara Munari - 10. screenshots of camera we put in his home to know if he's is fine when at home.
i

10. screenshots of camera we put in his home to know if he's is fine when at home.

© Sara Munari - 11. My father by the see, on the beach 12. A paint of him
i

11. My father by the see, on the beach 12. A paint of him

© Sara Munari - 13. Sheets on my father's bed 14. My father to the doctor for control
i

13. Sheets on my father's bed 14. My father to the doctor for control

© Sara Munari - 15. My father, in the rearview mirror of the car, with his eyes closed 16. Last time with the video call
i

15. My father, in the rearview mirror of the car, with his eyes closed 16. Last time with the video call

© Sara Munari - 17. My father's eye, my mother 18 . Photograph taken by my father from a museum window in Rimini
i

17. My father's eye, my mother 18 . Photograph taken by my father from a museum window in Rimini

© Sara Munari - 19. A paint of his bookcase 20. My father laughs at the easel when he was still painting, near the same bookcase
i

19. A paint of his bookcase 20. My father laughs at the easel when he was still painting, near the same bookcase

© Sara Munari - 21. In the shower of my house
i

21. In the shower of my house

© Sara Munari - 22. . Dad feeding a little bird
i

22. . Dad feeding a little bird

© Sara Munari - 23. Last screenshot of my father's empty house, from the camera
i

23. Last screenshot of my father's empty house, from the camera

© Sara Munari - 24. My father on the terrace of my house
i

24. My father on the terrace of my house

© Sara Munari - 25. My father with his father
i

25. My father with his father

Latest Projects

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Stay in the loop


We will send you weekly news on contemporary photography. You can change your mind at any time. We will treat your data with respect. For more information please visit our privacy policy. By ticking here, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with them. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.