Phillip Toledano Analysis

Toledano was born in London, to a French Moroccan mother and a American father. His qualifications include a BA in English Literature however he states his art influence came from watching his father who was a full time artist. Toledano’s work varies in medium from photography to installation, sculpture and painting and he focuses on socio-political themes however the piece I am going to focus on is deeply personal to him and also had a very emotional connection with me.

The piece I’m going to focus on is called ‘’Day’s with my Father’’. This piece is a series of images all illustrating the time he spend with his father after the death of his mother, Some images in this narrative are illustrated with notes explaining why he took the photograph and the state of mind his father was in at the time. Toledano clearly states that to him this piece of art is a journal of his on-going relationship with his father.

This image is the first of the series; it sets the scene for the images to follow. He describes here that his father hasn’t got Alzheimer but no short-term memory, and is often lost. To describe his mental state more so he tells us about the day he took his father to his mother’s funeral and afterwards when his father would ask him every 15minutes where his wife was. He narrates that eventually it became too much for him to relive the pain of knowing his mother was dead and telling his father this again and again so instead he told him she’d gone to Paris to look after her brother.

In this picture we assume that it’s his mother and father hugging and on his description he states his mother passed away in 2006, which is still fairly recent so it could be her or it could be his wife Clara. Either way the passion from the way her eyes are closed as she hugs this man and the intimacy on how close they are connotates that this is a couple.

The words beside this help the viewer to understand the concept of each photograph particularly this one, as it’s the only one in the series that features his mother.Taking note that this is the most powerful image in this series Toledano does it justice the way in which he captured this has such emotion pouring from it and more so if he ended on this photograph, however starting on it does establish the mood an enables the following photographs to flow beside it.

This is the third to last photograph in this series, I chose to pick this particular picture because all of Toledano's Pictures capture the gritty and beautiful aspects of his father's illness and his relationship with him during his last years, however this particular photograph and its words made a very emotional connection with me. As I was reading the words acted as a voiceover in my head to this emotional drama I was watching. "Sometimes, when we're talking, my dad will stop, and sigh and close his eyes. Its then that I know that he knows. About my mum. About everything".

The sadness in this portrait demonstrates what Toledano states, his father looks in deep distress with his eyes closed and head titled forward suggests this. Toledano used a light hitting from the left to produce a dark effect on one side of the face, black also connotates most things depressing such as death, which could be what Toledano's father is remembering.

This is again one of the last pictures from the series. However this is the one that made my heart sink, In this picture he describes how his Father died. The emotion on his face with his glass red eyes and head titled displays such emotion that cant be staged. He describes his father passing "yesterday" meaning the death is still very raw but he still managed to have his photograph taken of what must have been a very hard time.

I admire Phillip Toledano's courage in sharing this very personal story with the world. Each photograph bursting with emotion and memories. I think this series of photographs very much relates to the idea of evolving and growing as I think by going through this Toledano evolved and grew as person.