Gradually, Then Suddenly is an intimate documentary project born from love, grief, and the quiet ache of watching someone slip away. In this series, I followed my grandfather in the time surrounding his dementia diagnosis—capturing not just his changing reality, but the imprint of his presence, the moments of clarity, the echoes of who he had always been. Photography became more than just a means of documentation; it was a way to process, to hold onto the ephemeral, to bridge the widening space between who he was and who he was becoming.
Through this project, I learned firsthand how photography serves as both a form of emotional processing and a vital act of preservation. Each image is a testament to the necessity of visual archives, to the importance of capturing our loved ones in all their complexity—not just in their brightest moments, but in the tender, everyday details that shape a life. Gradually, Then Suddenly is a meditation on identity, familial love, and the ways in which we hold on, even as time pulls us forward.
