[ARCHIVE] Self Portrait of my father, Ukraine/Генічеськ, 2009
These days I’ve been thinking a lot about summer 2009, the summer I went to Ukraine.
I found this photograph of my dad today.
At first, it felt like a funny snapshot, but the more I look at it, the more iconic it feels. It reveals who he really was.
It captures him in a way that feels raw, sharp, and completely authentic.
This journey, even though it was my first time, very short, and I don’t know when and if I will ever return, meant so much to me.
Meeting my family for the first time, seeing where my great-grandmother lived, and the place my dad spent almost every summer as a child.
Summer 2009… a summer I’ll never forget.