As a father of two growing boys, Valery Poshtarov knows how quickly the day will come when they will no longer hold his hand on their way to school. Inspired by this thought, he initially set out to photograph his father and 95-year-old grandfather holding hands. However, interrupted by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Poshtarov prioritized his grandfather’s safety, and didn’t meet him for almost a year. Instead, Poshtarov began taking portraits of other fathers and adult sons. In a world that had been already growing apart, holding hands became a silent prayer, a way to come together again. Posing before the camera, fathers and sons held hands for the first time in years, sometimes decades. This act of intimacy became the main focus and purpose of Poshtarov’s project, the photographs a mere testament to the long-unspoken love between the men. This form of participatory photography reveals many aspects of the father-son relationship, the vulnerability, and the varying levels of interaction and acceptance. Poshtarov’s portraits remain open to interpretation, encouraging viewers to add their own layers of meaning and inviting them to contribute to the collective understanding of the shared human experience.
