Love Stories from a Garden of Tears

Introduction

In the peaceful quiet of a cemetery, surrounded by old monuments and faint whispers, I found inspiration in unexpected places. As a photographer whose career focused on documenting the beauty and grace of ballet, I began a journey that took me beyond the stage and into the depths of human emotion.

In 2012 I created an image in a cemetery inspired by the ballet “Giselle,” the main character a wandering spirit searching endlessly for love and redemption. I came to understand that a cemetery is a place of stories, not only of the departed but also of those who remain. That thought inspired me to envision those stories through the lens of my camera. Love Stories from a Garden of Tears is the result —a collection of photographs that reflect the universal experience of loss and longing.

Over the next six years, I photographed 52 individual women attempting to capture the weight of the grief and pain of separation from their loved ones. Each photograph tells a story—a silent testament to the enduring power of love and the profound impact of loss on one‘s being. Some images have captions I wrote to interpret the scene, others include quotes that resonated with me.

My purpose was to record moments of quiet contemplation, silent tears, and muted words that filled the air of these solitary places. The images are a timeless tribute to the depth of human emotion and the resilience of humanity.

As you explore these pages, I invite you to immerse yourself in the beauty and poignancy of the captured moments and to absorb all the texture and detail within the frame. We should be reminded that, in the end, only the photographs survive— a lasting testament to the enduring power of love, loss, and the human spirit.