When I was young, I would always get yelled at for rummaging through Nonno’s garden + trying to hide in all the plants. I thought there was nothing he cared about more than that patch of dirt + weeds. He put his heart and soul into it + lovingly admired it as it grew year after year.
It was his sanctuary; his pride + joy.
However, with time, I learned Nonno tended to his garden like another grandchild.
He planted seeds like he saved our college funds, hoping for a prosperous future.
He watered his garden like he cooked us Sunday lunch, carefully + with love.
He picked the vegetables like he would ask how school or work was going, taking pride in our achievements.
And he bragged about these successes to anyone that would listen.
I always thought the garden was my Nonno’s pride + joy. But Nonno’s garden was another member of the family; a piece of him that continues to grow + comfort us when he is no longer to do that himself.
As You Grew Older is a collection of documentary + archival photographs of my Nonno, Carmine Martiniello. As I began to get nervous about Nonno getting older + equally as guilty about the lack of time I had been spending with him, I started documenting him + his space.
This project began as a way to both document him in the later stages of his life + as a way to spend more time with him. I quickly learned that photographing him calmed me, knowing I’d always have these photographs.
However, as his health worsened, the work shifted. Because Nonno couldn’t speak much English, connecting to him was difficult sometimes. Having this time together to make these photographs connected us in a way that words couldn’t. In his final days, I came to realize that we had built a connection that only the two of us understood, a connection that will forever be captured within these photographs.