Anyone who reads this blog knows how much of a freak I am when it comes to recording my family, my daily life, etc. I think as photographers this is one of the most important things we can do. So on this note I bring you the work of Rafael Goldchain. A few shorts months ago, while giving a presentation at Society for Photographic Education in Atlanta, I was introduced to Rafael in one of those twist of fate conversations. Talking to one person, someone else walks up, “Hey, do you know so and so?”
Rafael had an accent I just couldn’t place. It sounded Latin, Israeli, French, Turkish and Canadian which left me thinking, “Well, he’s from somewhere.” Rafael had this nervous, creative intensity, driven by pure interest and intelligence.
Oddly enough we both had a connection to Guatemala, and we figured out we were both in Guatemala at the same time, or very close, and had both been influenced by Jean-Marie Simon, me through the book, and he from actually knowing her.
Rafael told me he lived in Toronto and I said, “Oh, I’ll be in Toronto in a few months and there is this photographer I really want to meet.” “Who” he asked. “This guy named Edward Burtynsky,” I said. “I know Ed,” he said. “I was his college roommate.”
So, we exchanged information and off we went.
A few weeks ago, in Toronto, Rafael and I had a beer, with several of his students from Sheridan College where he has taught photography for fourteen years. We spoke a lot about Blurb, about the industry of photography and about my desire to not work as a photographer so that I could focus on my projects. At the end of the conversation he handed me a book, his book, and I have to say I was truly blown away. The one thing we really hadn’t discussed was his work, and suddenly it was in front of me. It is not often I see a project that I’ve never seen before. Rafael’s “I Am My Family” was a project I’d not seen before.
Tracing his family history, Rafael photographed himself as…well…his family. All of it. All the members, through history, and each meticulously done. I love this project and this book. Remember all those images, those small prints kept in bags, boxes and albums that your parents have in their attic? Well, Rafael has those too, and they led him to this book, and the recreation of the history, the humans and the missing details.
I’ve included a link to an article and interview that is well worth reading. I added these images because I needed you to at least have a taste of what this project is about.
Congratulations to Rafael for creating this piece. Original, historical and very well done.
LINK TO INTERVIEW/ARTICLE