Hello, Father?

Hello, Father? is a collaboration between me and my father, observer and subject. It is not only a documentation of our relationship evolving, but also an exploration of the transformative potential of photography- to reimagine intimacy and connection.

For a long time, my father was absent from my life. Until today we have a rather complicated relationship. My parents divorced when I was 13. After he moved out, we became more or less strangers. We would meet occasionally something like twice a year, at christmas and on my birthday. This meetings were very distant, and every passing year we became more and more absent from each others lives.

This period lasted up until almost 2 years ago. Thats when I moved back to Hungary and decided to search contact with him. Father and his wife live in a small village by the river. First it became a casual documentation of my visits. I like to mask my anxiety by being busy. There was something about it psychologically, that we both had a purpose, a reason to be together.

Initially, when I started documenting him, I didn't fully comprehend the dynamics at play. Photography involves power dynamics, which require immerse trust. At first, I assumed this trust was given because I am photographing my biological father. Now I realised it is far more complex than this. A mixture of my desire for revenge and his guilt that slowly evolved into mutual trust. To my surprise at every session he complied without question or hesitation to do what I ask him to do, likely driven by the guilt of his absence that made us strangers. Only by confronting these negative emotions- anger, disappointment, mistrust, annoyance- was that we could start to build empathy and compassion towards each other. Through staging, directing and performing, photography becomes a tool for reinvention. It allowed me to imagine my father as the central character in countless different stories. Beyond the need to redefine or understand him, the act of staging these characters brought us something more immediate: shared joy. Humor became a release. We could laugh together as we performed these strange, often absurd roles.

The connection between photographer and subject isn't just technical. Its emotional. As we embraced the absurdity of his roles, I found myself letting go as well. Most of our sessions were results of improvisative practices. It was liberating creating without a fixed script. Most of the time we take our photos in the back garden. We are surrounded by the familiarity of nature.
I began to see the garden and the garage next to it as our very own set and costume department. Ordinary tools would transform into props. Anything could become a headpiece, a coat or an instrument. Our practices involved movement, play, repetition, dance, music, connecting with nature and animals. In these shared moments we allowed our traumas to dissolve through the process of togetherness. The gesture of photography doesn't just result in an image. It also results in the experience it leaves behind. I think sometimes the act of photographing is more important than the photo itself.

In conclusion this project served as a therapeutic process. Allowing me to confront and work through my anxiety. Hello, Father? demonstrates the potential of photography as a medium to explore personal relationships and the fluid boundaries between art and life. It investigates the shifting dynamics between subject and observer, while re-contextualising familial bonds in a broader artistic framework. The process has provided a space for interpretation and reflection on broader themes like intimacy, identity and representation.

The images were shot on 35mm film. We started the project in 2024. Father and I both consider it as an ongoing documentary project.

Dora Denerak Galyas