Tracing the physical and emotional thresholds of pregnancy complications and premature birth, ‘JJ VFF VV’ is a tender documentation of the birth of João Linneu and Fernanda Fajardo’s first child, Valentín, born in 2014.
Linneu’s photographs are intimate and raw, instinctive and exposing, documenting his partner as her body navigates a challenging pregnancy, moving between the private space of their bedroom and bathroom, onto hospital wards, soon to be shared with her newborn son. Interweaved are photographs taken by Fajardo: self-portraits made when hospitalised and occasional portraits she has captured of Linneu. The cover of the book is an illustration by their son Valentín, who is now eleven, and aware of this photographic record of his coming into life. In ‘JJ VFF VV’ Linneu and his family shape an unprecedented collective portrait of lived experience, revealing a sensitive visual language for circumstances so often shrouded in silence.
