berritta, Sigarett u whisky

This series is divided into two parts. The first was photographed in February-March 2025 as part of a project documenting the everyday lives of my grandparents, whom I grew up with. I wanted to preserve these moments, knowing that one day they would become memories. They were more than grandparents to me. They raised me as their own and were my parents in every sense of the word.

The second part documents his final weeks in hospital in 2026, following his diagnosis with late stage cancer. He passed away in September at St Vincent de Paul Hospital. The same illness took my mother Joanne in February 2022. My grandmother Carmen is still with us.

Leli was a man of simple pleasures, rarely seen without his beret or cap, always with a cigarette, and a whisky . He loved his birds, his cat Mishu, his friends, and, above all, looking after everyone around him, including my girlfriend, whom he treated as family.

His life was one of hard work and sacrifice. From working in quarries to driving for the army in West Germany and Belgium, he spent years away from his young wife Carmen to provide for his family. He endured great loss, including the passing of my mother and his infant son in the 1970s, yet remained strong willed until the very end.

He left us at 78, perhaps too soon. But the simplest lives can leave the deepest marks. Leli lives on in our memories, in the little things we remember, his moments of laughter and jokes and in everyone he loved.