LOVE NEVER FAILS
Photography & photo book, November 2020
Love Never Fails is a record of how my mother-in-law remembers and honors her late husband in her home. Her 100+ year-old house has a unique personality that is different from the typical home interiors we see these days. Not only does she decorate her house to her liking, but she also decorates her house with things to remember her beloved husband. In this project, I tried to capture the marriage and life of her and her husband and their history.
My father-in-law once worked as a type-setter for the Journal Star newspaper in Peoria. He often printed letters for his wife on special days such as Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. When he couldn’t use the printer, he would hand over a handwritten letter to his wife. My mother-in-law still keeps them at her bedside. The old letters are worn and faded, but the contents seem to be still alive. In the photo book, I matched these letters with the photos I took. With this, readers can gauge their love story without an explanation of the photo.
The story contained in this project may be a common story of a couple that is easily seen all around us. However, in this age where everyone is looking for only stimulating and interesting things, I think this ordinary-looking story shows what a real-life love story is like. Also, the story of this old couple who believed in and protected each other’s love for 46 years, even though they lived in a time when they were not materially affluent, deserves to be a model for this society which puts material abundance ahead of love of family.
