Sibling Visión: Nadia: The Final Part*

Digital photograph

“Sibling Visión” is inspired by my sister Sonja (SDEDM), and how she and I have grown and changed side by side. It isn’t often that two friends are thrust together by the chance of birth and genes, but fifteen years ago, we were.

We first met early in the morning light, when I was nursing a cold, and she had just found out what it felt like to breathe. From that day on, we’ve been all but glued together, experiencing the world through our companionship.

As the photographs in “Sibling Visión” look away and toward each other, so do we. Perhaps no two people are as similar and different as we are. As we change, we realize that we are each other’s foil, one idiosyncrasy balancing another.

SDEDM collaborated with me on “Sibling Visión.” She has a knack for cameras and settings and has a good eye (pun intended, of course). She reminded me that this series is about balance, the balance that two people existing together, constantly growing, and supporting and challenging each other can find. This series is about the space between two people, a space that diminishes as years accumulate.

The Greek language has four words to express love. One of which is “philia,” meaning a kind of loyalty and affection and equality.  Philia is as near as words can get to expressing how I feel about my sister and our experience. 

*See the individual photographs here.

348 days done, 17 to go.