From teaching them to ride bikes to overcoming unimaginable grief, Harry Borden’s portraits reveal the intimate bonds that grow between single fathers and their children
Harry Borden was 13 when he developed his first photograph – a portrait of his father, Charles, as he mucked out the pigs on their family farm in Devon. Borden, 55, is now one of the leading photographers in the UK. But his childhood was spent in “concrete buildings on a cold, north-facing hill, with 70 squealing sows”. Looking back now, Borden wonders if his father was depressed. “He wasn’t interested in his children in the least. My brother and sister and I had to work very hard to ever get his attention. I don’t think he liked us very much.”
While the demands and stress of motherhood are widely recognised today, Borden believes many fathers are stunted by Charles-esque notions of masculinity. Men must, above all, appear strong. They must not show vulnerability. And they must provide – even if that means remaining at a remove.
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