Memories that make you cry

Photographer Georges Pacheco makes people cry for the sake of art. In 2005 and 2006, he invited complete strangers to his studio who agreed to indulge in the saddest memories of their lives in front of the lens. This is how the photo project "Tears of Memories" was born. It took a lot of time to create it: firstly, it was not so easy to find volunteers; secondly, the author was not sure that they would all be able to cry.

Before taking up the art of photography, Pacheco studied the psychology of perception and the psychology of the impact of art on a person. With the help of this project, he wanted to "determine whether a person will be able to dig out something in his own memory and personal history that will make him cry."

Pacheco asked his models to remember things that could cause tears, and then left them alone with the camera so that they themselves could remotely press the shutter button. After that, he would come back and ask what kind of memories these emotions had caused them.

Leftward: "I was thinking about my late grandmother. I cried a lot at her funeral." On the right: "I remembered the death of my father and again felt the pain that I felt two months ago."

Leftward: "I tried to remember myself 10 years ago — where I was and who I wanted to become." On the right: "I remembered what people say about my relationship with children — I am too strict and angry with them, and also, perhaps, I did not take place as a husband."

Leftward: "I thought about my past. I had a terrible childhood: my father put me out on the street as a child, and I lived among drug addicts and tried to commit suicide." On the right: "I thought about my niece Judith, whom I raised. She died at the age of 48. Cancer. I saw him slowly killing her, and her death affected me greatly. Even now I can't talk about it."

Leftward: "I went back 4 years ago, at the time when my parents were in an accident. The father died, and the mother lay in a coma for two months. She still hasn't fully recovered." On the right: "I'm crying because I mentally asked my late father for forgiveness for not being able to be with him."

Leftward: "I thought about the fact that I will never know where I live and where I come from, and this leads to problems in life." On the right: "I started crying because I realized that I wanted to write to a person I hadn't seen for a very long time, but then I realized that this person was me. I forgot myself."

Leftward: "It's definitely a memory—a memory of something that was once good, but has now turned lifeless. Previously, everything was essential, but now I understand that everything is monotonous, usually banal. And it's over." On the right: "I went back to when I was six and I lost my sister. But there have been other losses in my life. Later I lost my grandmother, and then my mother. And it was my mother's death that brought me to the bottom. I think there's nothing more painful in life than losing your mom."