Alessandra Rinaudo's Photographic Exploration of Mother-Daughter Bonds

Alessandra Rinaudo's project 'What Are You Doing in Front of the Saints?' (2011–2014) examines the mother-daughter relationship through four interconnected chapters. The first chapter originates from a real event: Rinaudo's mother discovered nude photographs of her daughter taken in the family home before religious objects, prompting the titular question that reveals generational and cultural distance. The second chapter, 'Polka Dots, Satin and Ribbons,' explores reconciliation through handmade clothing sewn by the mother and sent to Rinaudo in London, accompanied by handwritten notes. 'Double Portrait' expands the research to the mother's history, using archival family photographs and superimposing the mother's young face onto Rinaudo's own. The third chapter concludes with an autobiographical text, 'La storia di mia mamma,' written in first person. The project ends with 'The Embrace,' a series of self-portraits taken collaboratively with the mother and shot by the father, following family portrait conventions but revealing visible tension and discomfort.