The project “Yellow is not the color of the son” is a personal story of growing up in the shadow of a mother’s mental illness and inheriting the silence around difficult experiences. Archival family photographs become the starting point for the question: Can suffering be seen in an image, a gaze, a body? This is an attempt at a conversation that could never take place- a dialogue conducted through photography, memory, and art.

“Yellow papers” is a colloquial, now obsolete term for documents confirming psychiatric treatment- a phrase that has carried stigma and shame for years. In this project, the color yellow thus becomes a symbol of stigmatization, an inherited burden, and the emotional landscape formed by identity.

Does mental illness leaves its mark on our outlook, our bodies, our family history. Can it be seen in a picture? Does it remain with us forever?

The project was part of a mentoring programme Do Art Together organised by Picture Doc Foundation and FSH1, visit website: https://dat.picture-doc.org/7/