What does love look like? Love can be expressed in many ways. Painters, writers, musicians, and people like you and me have tried to capture its essence.
For Russian photographer Andy Prokh, love looks like the relationship between his daughter and a cat, hence his creative efforts to capture and immortalize that relationship. Prokh began photographing his daughter Katherine and his cat (known simply as Cat, so they are Kat and Cat) when his daughter was born.
The result is a series of elegantly simple photos capturing tender moments between Katherine and Cat. Through Prokh’s lens, a mundane, everyday scene becomes an exploration of the language between children and animals. Katherine, now four, still lives suspended in a world of primal reason, not yet governed by the absurd rules of adult society. She can still communicate with Cat in his own wild words, and their understanding is present in Prokh’s images.
Prokh plans to continue photographing the girl and the cat, and it will be interesting to watch how their relationship changes as Katherine grows up and Cat grows old. What will it be like for Katherine as she steps to the threshold of her future while Cat succumbs to old age and eventually passes away?
In a way, Cat is Prokh, communicating in a special language with his daughter. One day she’ll learn new words and new worlds, perhaps leaving her father behind as she takes off on her own wings.
See more of Prokh’s work here and here, and keep up to date on his work via his Facebook page.
All photos by Andy Prokh, used with permission
