Faculty of Art

Photography

Rafael Onilla

an untitled series about a mother and son

an untitled series about a mother and son is a series that explores my life as a single child, living with my single mother. My series aims to highlight my relationship between myself and my mother freely and proudly, in an age where a series like this could also be deemed as non-masculine. My question is, why?

“Growing up with a single mother meant that I was your prototypical “mama’s boy,” not because I wanted to be one, but because I had no choice but to be one. I didn’t have a “favourite parent” because my mother was my only parent. Normalcy never existed; I just lived my childhood thinking that it did.As I have grown older, I have come to realize just how special my relationship with my mother is, and how important it is for me to create something that explores my relationship with her,So why not make some new memories with her?Probably because the world that we live in today considers a series like this as a highlight of blatant non-masculinity. In a world where hypermasculinity is so en vogue, I'm not just making this series as a tribute to the most important person in my life, but as a way to challenge the perceptions that many people have when it comes to relationships like this one, and to question masculinity as we know it.Why should I be ashamed of this?”