honorable mention
BEATRICE DINA united kingdom
title
WHO BY FIRE
I will always remember May 23rd 2018. It was the day of my neurosurgery and also my deceased father's birthday. That day, before the neurosurgeon removed the macro adenoma that was pressing my optical nerves, I prayed in terror. Was my beloved dad, wherever he was, going to protect me during the surgery? Or were we going to meet again?
WHO BY FIRE, Leonard Cohen's song, was playing endlessly in my mind.
Who dies and who survives? WHO IN YOUR MERRY MERRY MONTH OF MAY?
I had never experienced such fear before. Years of chronic pain made me realise that things can suddenly turn bad, but I was never afraid of death. Now blindness, meningitis and a stroke were all imminent realities.
That day I started taking a series of self-portraits that captured the fear before and after the neurosurgery, the pain, the prayers, the need of others, the healing, the gratitude for a second chance. I shot to never forget the moments I grasped what life is all about.
How miraculous is the time we are given and how precious is to spend it with our beloved ones.
She moved to Israel after getting married and lived for ten years in Tel Aviv, where the Israeli-Palestinian conflict left an indelible sign. She now lives in England with her multicultural interfaith family, developing her visual art about human connections, while raising with her husband Gad two young children in North West London.
back to gallery
entry description
WHO BY FIREI will always remember May 23rd 2018. It was the day of my neurosurgery and also my deceased father's birthday. That day, before the neurosurgeon removed the macro adenoma that was pressing my optical nerves, I prayed in terror. Was my beloved dad, wherever he was, going to protect me during the surgery? Or were we going to meet again?
WHO BY FIRE, Leonard Cohen's song, was playing endlessly in my mind.
Who dies and who survives? WHO IN YOUR MERRY MERRY MONTH OF MAY?
I had never experienced such fear before. Years of chronic pain made me realise that things can suddenly turn bad, but I was never afraid of death. Now blindness, meningitis and a stroke were all imminent realities.
That day I started taking a series of self-portraits that captured the fear before and after the neurosurgery, the pain, the prayers, the need of others, the healing, the gratitude for a second chance. I shot to never forget the moments I grasped what life is all about.
How miraculous is the time we are given and how precious is to spend it with our beloved ones.
about the photographer
Beatrice Dina was born in Modena, Italy in 1976 from an American mother and Italian father. Multiculturalism has always been the engine of her curiosity for what connects and disconnects us from one another. After studying design and communication, she worked as Art director in Bologna and Milano. She then directed, produced and edited short videos and long documentary films with her film company Mebuba Film.She moved to Israel after getting married and lived for ten years in Tel Aviv, where the Israeli-Palestinian conflict left an indelible sign. She now lives in England with her multicultural interfaith family, developing her visual art about human connections, while raising with her husband Gad two young children in North West London.
back to gallery