Bringing Back My Father

Abstract

Addressing the social stigma behind paranoid schizophrenia, Bringing Back My Father is a photographic project that uses my experiences with a schizophrenic father to raise awareness about the disease. It will be a visual representation of the distress felt by paranoid schizophrenics, and the effect it has on friends and family. The goal of the project is to inspire those who are affected by paranoid schizophrenia, both victims and families, to give hope that a life once shattered can become a beautiful and manageable thing. For my project I am taking self-portraits, as many of the things I do in my life are in direct relation to my father. The images are in environments that inspire memories of my father, such as where I grew up or places we liked to hang out. I am using items that are related to my father in each image, my way of metaphorically putting my father back into my life as a healed and healthy person. The images of myself combined with the tangible mementos of my father reflect the piecing together of a life affected by paranoid schizophrenia, and the relation to the real and imagined worlds we live in.