Portraits of Friends’ Families is a series of ten textile portraits that explore the diversity of contemporary family structures. The works portray a wide range of constellations, including single parents, divorced parents, co-parenting arrangements, same-sex couples, and families in which more than two people share parenting responsibilities.
The people represented in these portraits come from my own family circle, as well as from the families of friends, colleagues, and acquaintances in Zurich and Winterthur. The project seeks to document their realities and highlight the challenges that new and non-traditional family models often face.
As society moves toward greater inclusivity and equity in civil rights, the concept of family continues to evolve. In Switzerland, same-sex marriage became legal only recently, yet legal structures around co-parenting and multi-parent families remain rigid. This project aims to give visibility to these experiences and to contribute to a broader understanding of what family can be today.