Project
Somebody Else's Grandmother(2026)
My primary anchor, my grandmother, remains on a distant shore, accessible only through the digital fragmentation of internet messages. To survive the "archaeology of absence," I began to observe the "other"—my Brazilian husband’s grandmother. She became a surrogate island, a landscape I could touch and document to compensate for the one I lost.

This project is an archaeology of my own absence, where a stranger’s grandmother serves as a mirror of an insurmountable distance and at the same time as a bridge for building a new connection through the pain of loss.

Observing my husband’s grandmother in Brazil, I inhabit a paradox of recognition.
I search her gaze and her gestures, attempting to glimpse my own native roots. Here, the camera is an instrument of intentional presence—an attempt to "occupy a space" in a history that is not mine.

I remain critical of my position: I know this woman will never be my family on another continent. This recognition only sharpens the physical and emotional break from my roots, forcing me to question the boundaries of intimacy and the definition of home.

This project is a ritual. I am attempting to reconcile with reality, letting a stranger bless my memories and my connection to the grandmother I left behind.


Filmed in the house of the husband's grandmother over the course of several months.

Back to the Mundane
Made on
Tilda