“It is scary how similar we are. I always thought he was much more like his mother to look at although everyone used to say he is the spitting image of me.These days I see even more of his mother in him (maybe that because she died 12 years ago and I want to see more) but in any case inside me is still very much like me – often I see in him things I don’t like about myself, but of course there are many good things as well.”
Participant – Michael Nicholson, 2002
“I think it looks like just me and I am sure that he thinks that it looks just him. When I look in the mirror I don’t see him at all. I don’t even see similarities, even though people tell me that I do. My dad reckons that I look like my mum, but it’s scary when you look at the picture. I think that I am like my dad as a person, but sometimes I don’t think he really understands who I am. I think that he just assumes who I am. If you take all the negative aspects out of it, on a good day we do get on well and I get a lot of satisfaction out of that. If you look at the photograph it looks perfect but if you look at our relationship it’s not perfect, and in most families it is the same case.”
Participant – Lewis Nicholson, 2002
Michael is a fellow photographer, and great friend. He and Lewis are so alike that the image is of both of the right hand sides of their faces. They seem alike physically and emotionally which does not always draw them closer together. Perhaps its because they can no longer find evidence of her existence when they are searching for it so hard in each other.
Photographer – Belinda Mason, 2004