SONA AND HER FAMILY (168)

11:45, Wednesday 27th June, Thaw

There's no path to her home, only mud on the way to a squalid shack. Inside, huddled together in close proximity, is a testimony of Roma settlement, with Sona, strong-willed and staunch, at the centre. As a mother of 15 children, Sona's strife begins on the interior, where fear and worry feed her physical exhaustion and her mental and emotional endurance as a mother and a wife. From there, her concerns shift to an outer space where she must foster a nurturing environment to raise intelligent, obedient children. The final ring is the exterior, the Roma community, a situation of detriment. Over intimate compositions of a crumbling family democracy, a visceral album gives way to Sona's whispered confessions: a devotion to her husband, a loyalty to her family, the ruin of her home, and the destiny of her burgeoning brood.