Portraits of Adolescent Girls | Photographing adolescent girls began as a personal response to loss. Years ago, I was pregnant with twin girls but abruptly lost the pregnancy at 33 weeks. After years of trying to become a mother through various paths, my husband and I came to the diHicult decision to stop. It was a painful decision that left a lasting imprint.

Several years later, almost unexpectedly, I found myself photographing adolescent girls — mostly in New York and Buenos Aires, the cities where I live and work. Many of these girls were around the same age my daughters would have been and I realized that what started unconsciously evolved into a way of processing grief.

As I spent time with these girls, I was moved by their presence — the way they expressed themselves in front of the camera, their eagerness to be photographed, they vulnerability and at times surprising self assurance. The photographs became reflections of the experience I never had, of the life I imagined but never lived. The work became about absence, loss and memory.

I also became aware of the moment we are living in—the power of photography in shaping identity and self-image, and how being seen can feel like a form of existence. This tension between inner self and outward projection drew me to artists like Rineke Dijkstra, whose work invites us to observe that delicate exchange, and Diane Arbus, who explored the complexity of identity through portraiture. Adolescent Girls has since become a long-term project. It is an exploration of identity and the complex transition young girls go through. www.josefinafmoranfoto.com