"Intervals of warm absence: the daily life experience of those left behind in Romania" focuses on the daily life of Larisa, 18, a high school student living in Vătava, Romania, whose parents worked in Spain for 5 years. Through the project I visualise the absence of the parents by observing the interactions with her sister, boyfriend and grandmother, but also the mental and emotional hardships of a forced maturity.
How does the absence of migrant family members affect the daily lives of those left behind? According to the Global Migration Report 2022, Romania is the 17th largest country of origin for migrants in the world, and according to Save the Children 2023, almost a quarter of children have a parent who has worked abroad. There is a lot of focus on those who leave and not those who stay, without asking what it feels like to be left behind by your family, especially at the beginning of your life. I want to challenge the perception that migration only affects those who leave, by highlighting the impact on children and asking how this will affect the future with a generation of children who have a fragmented presence of their parents.