Some works immediately become part of a tradition, extending the tradition, bringing it up to date, surpassing it, or at least offer news perspectives. This is true for Darcy Padilla’s Julie Project, an account of her meeting on February 28th, 1993, with the subject of this extraordinary portrait, and the relationship that would last until Julie’s death on September 27th, 2010.
This long-term project follows in the footsteps of the American tradition of the photo essay, a journalistic narrative told through pictures, made possible by weekly publications like LIFE magazine. It different from what had existed in the European illustrated press before World War II, and the model would be adopted by Paris Match and Stern, among others, after the war. Padilla references the work of W. Eugene Smith—she is also the recipient of the W. Eugene Smith Award—who invented the genre, in particular with his series Country Doctor, which appeared in LIFE in 1948.
By choosing the shoot in black-and-white, by choosing to blend into the daily life of what she photographs, by empathy, Padilla tries to understand, and help us understand, the story and the logic of her subjects, leading us to share, discover and question. She avoids caricature and easy answers. This is not attempt to “save” these unfortunate souls, but to help us decipher their behavior in all its complexity.
Read the full article on the French version of L’Oeil.
BOOK
Family Love
Photographs by Darcy Padilla
Editions de la Martinière
1st Edition — French Language
336 pages
