Just over two years ago, my Grandma G was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer. Fast forward to today -- after going through exhaustive treatments that abruptly ended with her collapse and subsequent hospital admittance -- she is now off medication and living out her remaining days in a hospice.
As a photographer, I've always been interested in documenting a wide variety of people, including those who have entered the twilight years. Social media and pop culture are saturated with images of the young and the beautiful. As people, especially women, age, they seem to become invisible as youth dominates our mass-marketed, consumerist culture.
Since taking up photography over 20 years ago, I've tried to convince Grandma G over and over again to let me capture her portrait. She always politely declined. Now as a woman approaching 40, I can understand becoming less excited in posing in front of a camera. Women especially don't seem to like visual reminders that they are aging, or getting that they are getting 'old'.
Now that she has entered her final days, Grandma G is no longer as shy in front of my camera. I kind of found it surprising that she seems now eager to pose when I've asked. I'm so very grateful of her generosity and consider it a gift that she is allowing me to photograph her now.