He photographs his ninety-year-old mother and his photos show all the dignity of old age
The beautiful images you see on this page were captured by Tony Luciani, an illustrator and painter of Canadian origin who has lived for many years in Italy and traveled throughout Europe to perfect his style.
At a certain point in his career, he became interested in photography and started focusing his lens on an exceptional subject --- his mother Elia.
She is an elderly woman, who is over ninety years old and suffers from senile dementia, but nevertheless, she has become the protagonist of a project that has garnered admirers from all over the world.
via slrlounge.com
When the elderly woman began to show the first signs of senile dementia, her son made the courageous choice to take care of her himself by bringing her to live with him in his home-studio which is a church converted into a house.
From this cohabitation, which started in 2014, a photographic project was born spontaneously. In fact, Tony started to photograph his mother while she was going about her daily activities, and recognizing the effortless charm that emanated from her physical movements and began to set up more and more elaborate and evocative settings.
This new activity seemed to help the elderly woman a lot. In fact, the act of dressing up, putting on her make-up and posing for her son gave her a new vitality --- it was as if by playing and acting out a role she became a child again.
The harmony between mother and son and the joyful atmosphere in which the images were captured are evident in the photos, as is also evident the love that this son feels for his mother which seems to ooze from every frame.
The photographer manages to reveal the most hidden soul of this elderly woman with great delicacy, showing her most simple traits but also the more reflective and dramatic ones.
After some time, Tony also encouraged Elia to take pictures of herself after giving her a camera. Her photos have been shown successfully in various competitions and have appeared in Inspire Magazine.
On her birthday, Tony asked his mother: "Do you remember what day you were born?". And she softly replied: "Yes, I think it was the day you were born ... and it was four o'clock in the morning."
Senior citizens often end up playing a marginal role in their children's lives, as they are considered more a burden than a resource. So we can only express deep admiration for this son, who knew how to understand the value of the bond between him and his mother and did not want to leave someone else the privilege of spending time with her.
An artistic duo that everyone should know!
To discover all of Tony Luciani's work, consult his webpage on ynotphoto.com his personal website tonyluciani.ca or his Facebook page.
