#3 CAMERA Book Review: Valentina Abenavoli - My Name is Elena
My Name is Elena - Eclisse #4
by Valentina Abenavoli
Valentina Abenavoli's My Name is Elena is a documentary photobook produced following Romania's accession to the European Union. Published by Akina Books in 2013 as part of the limited edition Eclisse series, the project centres on Elena, a tailor living in rural Romania whose personal experiences become a means of examining wider questions of identity, migration and social change. Through conversations and photographs, Abenavoli documents a woman whose life has been shaped by economic uncertainty, family separation and the continuing legacy of the Ceaușescu era.
The photographs move between portraiture, domestic interiors and details of everyday life, creating a close observation of Elena's environment rather than a conventional documentary report. Elena's sister has emigrated to Italy, while Elena herself has remained in Romania, providing the project with a framework through which to consider the different paths taken by families following increased freedom of movement within Europe. The title refers to one of the few English phrases Elena could say, "My name is Elena", which also echoes the name of Elena Ceaușescu, linking an individual story to the country's recent political history.
Produced as a hand bound publication in an edition of one hundred copies, My Name is Elena reflects Abenavoli's interest in combining documentary photography with intimate storytelling through independent photobook publishing. Rather than presenting Romania through familiar post communist narratives, the work focuses on the experiences of a single individual, using her life to explore broader themes of memory, migration, identity and the social realities of a country continuing to redefine itself in the twenty first century.
Photographs: Valentina Abenavoli
Publisher: Akina
Year: 2013
limited edition of 100; hand-sewn
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