The 19th RPS GRANTEE Loulou d’Aki
We are pleased to announce that Loulou d’Aki’s proposal “MOTHER OF CHOICE” has been selected as the 19th grantee of Reminders Photography Stronghold Grant from 2018 December deadline submissions selected by our seven commissioned judges, Andrei Polikanov, Staton Winter, Svetlana Bachevanova, Peggy Sue Amison, Alexa Becker, Giuseppe Oliverio and Enrico Bossan. We are now scheduling her exhibition in 2020, more news later!
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
MOTHER OF CHOICE
‟ I realised that one can disconnect the idea of a relation with the idea of having a child. A relation has no age limit, one could meet a life partner regardless of age. Once I understood that, I no longer felt stressed about finding a partner first or to settle for second best in order to have my child.”
In 1972, the Swedish government launched a new manifesto called: ”The family in the future ”.
It underlined the importance of individualism and independence, it’s motto that no adult should depend on another but should be completely independent.
In April 2016, a new law passed in Sweden, permitting assisted fertilisation to single women.
Before that day, women would have had to turn to IVF clinics abroad or to private sperm donors in order to become pregnant.
Mother of choice is a project about single women who have chosen to become mothers on their own because they can due to generous government support and welfare and due to the fact that being a single mother is no social stigma.
Over 40 years after the social democrats launched ” The family in the future ” manifesto, Sweden is witnessing a big change in the traditional family unit.
Through the individuals involved, Mother of choice tells us about this social phenomenon.
For many women, the new law affirmed a changed and more equal view on new types of family constellations.
It meant that women would finally be able to receive subsidised treatment from the government in public county clinics across the country and that becoming a single mother would no longer be an option for those who can afford expensive treatment only.
‟A family made up by individuals who are working for themselves. Independent, for themselves. If a woman is depending financially on the man it is impossible to know if she stays around because she needs to rather than because she wants to.”
These standards, set by the social democratic government in the 1970’s may be more relevant than ever.
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
©︎Loulou d’Aki / MOTHER OF CHOICE / the 19th RPS grantee
Loulou d’Aki is a photographer, born and raised on the Swedish seaside. She graduated in photography at ISFCI in Rome, Italy and has since then lived and worked across Europe, North America, Japan and the Middle East.
As a photographer she is interested in how human beings are affected by the society in which they live, the influence of borders and the idea of freedom.
Alongside commissioned work Lou focuses on various long term projects, which result in exhibitions or books. Her project Make a Wish won Cortona on the Move dummy award in 2017 and was published as the book ‘’ They call us dreamers but we’re the ones who don’t sleep’’ at Cortona on the Move. 2018.
Lou was a singer before she became a photographer. She speaks Swedish, English, Italian, French and gets by in German and Hebrew.
Middle Eastern based from 2010-2015, Loulou d’Aki is currently based in Athens, Greece from where she travels worldwide for assignments and personal projects.
dakiloulou.com
MOTHER BY CHOICE by Loulou d’Aki