Quarter Angel

Alina speaking at Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork, Ireland 2019.

People often ask me what my secret is and I joke that I’m quarter angel - my grandad was simply enlightened!

Jokes aside fundamentally for me it’s knowing pain that helps me stay humble, have compassion for others and experience the joy of simple things.

But pain alone is not enough. It also takes knowing love - and that’s something you would ideally learn from someone by being loved. They show you how it’s supposed to feel. The way someone looks at you, talks to you, listens to you that makes you feel so safe and strong, it’s like they are breathing life into you, watering your inner plant. And that’s what my grandad has always been to me.

It’s been three years since he passed but he is always with me in more ways than one. In this photo I’m speaking to art students about challenges and lessons of my life as a photographer and wearing my grandad’s jacket date stamped 1973...