Mia Cipriani
Childhood can be both beautiful and ugly. I attempt to highlight the beauty. My younger sister often looks up to me and I am impressed with how much more expressive Olympia is than I was at seven. My 11-year-old twin brothers, Luke and Rocco, are entering the era of preadolescence. They are in constant motion, darting back and forth. I want to preserve these valuable memories and not take them for granted. My twin sisters, Birdie and Hazel, are 14. They constantly bicker, so it’s rare to get a picture of them together. Even though they are twins, they are different physically and mentally. My dynamics with my siblings changed during this project, bringing us closer. This project required lots of patience on my part as sister and photographer. Every time I attempted to photograph them they complained and argued with each other. After a while they stopped and we got to appreciate the time we spent together. Because these relationships will never be the same, I hold onto moments where we can be young together. As I get older, so does the inevitable reality of becoming an adult. Every time Olympia asks me to play with her and I say, “not now”, my mom encourages me to do so. Someday I’ll be on my own and missing her. I’ve always resisted change, especially when it comes on suddenly. I photograph my current life so I always have a portal to the past.
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A digital and film photographer, Mia Cipriani is based in New York City and comes from a family of artists. When Mia began taking classes at the International Center of Photography (ICP), she shifted her main focus from drawing to photography. Currently a Teen Academy Imagemaker at ICP, Mia has attended programs at Pratt and FIT as well. She draws inspiration from her surroundings, such as her neighborhood in Queens and her family, where she is one of seven. Mia uses motion, color, and light to highlight personal themes of youth, family, and identity. She aspires to pursue photography in college and work as a portrait photographer.