eletheowl:

jacindamagnolia:

Echolilia

All parents love their children. But what do you do when you can’t connect with them? In my case, I started making photographs of, and with, my son Elijah, who has autism spectrum disorder. This series—the title is from “echolalia,” a clinical term for the mimicking aspect of his condition—shows the bridges we’ve built on our shared journey of wonder, discovery, and understanding.

We began this project when Eli was five. He was doing well at school but fixating on odd things, lashing out, speaking repetitively. My wife and I couldn’t figure him out. Then I started taking pictures of him around the house. It was an instinctive act for a photographer: Point your camera at something in order to make sense of it. But a curious thing happened. As I documented what Eli was doing and creating, he became interested in the images I was making. I was learning how he thinks; he was learning what I like and value.

We soon had a system. Eli would do something unusual, one of us would notice, and we’d make a photo of it together. The pictures we took over three years were more raw and feral than anything I’d done as an editorial or advertising photographer. And more personal. This is, after all, the story of a father and his son.

Timothy Archibald’s book, Echolilia: Sometimes I Wonder, was published last year by Echo Press. See more of his work at timothyarchibald.com.

Beautiful and precious.

Notes

  1. pogisiranma reblogged this from givesyou-hell
  2. givesyou-hell reblogged this from aluna-adastra
  3. likelikewhatever reblogged this from pompadoursandpincurls
  4. battlewithin reblogged this from borntochange
  5. play-till-death reblogged this from jacindamagnolia
  6. meghonestep reblogged this from borntochange
  7. kattlunch reblogged this from rowedtoknowwear
  8. borntochange reblogged this from thesciencelord
  9. the-saintly-sinner reblogged this from dexterthedarkdefender
  10. formyevann reblogged this from midoriko-grr
  11. itsgabywithoneb reblogged this from missetc and added:
    This made me cry….
  12. secondhandbones reblogged this from fortunesse
  13. missetc reblogged this from skylerself
  14. elleestmorte reblogged this from contacthome
  15. misstuesdaysky reblogged this from musicalpuppies
  16. etherealgaseous reblogged this from alienlovesong
  17. hotandfresh-outthekitchen reblogged this from p0pping-punk
  18. life-doesnt-hurt-so-badly reblogged this from p0pping-punk
  19. onceuponamidnightcheery reblogged this from dexterthedarkdefender
  20. thatgirlkerri reblogged this from p0pping-punk
  21. p0pping-punk reblogged this from shes-mental-that-one
  22. shes-mental-that-one reblogged this from dexterthedarkdefender
  23. dexterthedarkdefender reblogged this from allthellamas
  24. topherrocks reblogged this from theshorteststory
  25. losercat reblogged this from demiseoftheritual
  26. soyunpunto reblogged this from deepbreathsanddeath
  27. anotherrpartofme reblogged this from stateless1972
  28. muertecelular reblogged this from psithurism
  29. goneinaliteralheartbeat reblogged this from fuckthenicethings
  30. dascrabapples reblogged this from stateless1972