© Michal Iwanowski, Untitled, from the series Minus the mother
© Michal Iwanowski, Untitled, from the series Minus the mother
“Psychoanalysis uses the term ‘anticipatory grief’ to explain how a realisation of the inevitable death of a loved one can initiate in us the process of mourning long before the actual death occurs. Unable to process their getting old, deteriorating, weakening, and gradually becoming less of what we want of them to remain, we employ a defence mechanism which urges us to turn our eyes away, as if to preserve a perfect picture of those we are to lose, one day.
It is an unsettling and daring move to talk about a loved person as if they were no longer alive. With this project, I am encouraging you to think about your losses, those that have happened, and more so, about those that are still to take place. I am inviting you to meet my mother.”
‘This is the time, and this is the record of the time’ (L. Anderson)
More of Michal’s work here