Marina Berio

“Family Matter” is a series of gum arabic prints made with blood. I am not interested in the anachronism of making images with a 19th century process long superseded by sharper and faster methods, but gum allows for a high level of flexibility. I have an almost alchemical belief in the meaning contained in physical materials, that when this peculiar form of power is introduced into the realm of the illusion of the photographic image, other levels of meaning become possible.
Father and son reading with their legs entwined or snacking by the river, begin to provoke each other and engage in a rough game of wrestling until one or both ends up injured. The inevitable progression from playfulness to real anger frustrates me as much as it fascinates me: probing, aggression and love all mingled and inseparable. As a mother, a creator, a vertex of the family triangle, I use my own blood to denote that I am bound to these men and involved in their routine, even though their behaviors are profoundly alien to me. As a photographer and observer, I play an invisible role in this staging; I am present but beyond the frame. The veracity of these family images is amplified by the presence of my own blood in their creation, although the bond that exists between people who love each other cannot really be photographed.