Emily Sardaryan
Grieving Me is a series about the quiet process of growing up and realizing how much of childhood you’re still holding onto. It’s about noticing the moments where you feel yourself changing, and also the moments where the younger version of you shows up again without warning. While working on this project, I found myself confronting memories I thought I had long since moved past and emotions I didn’t expect to feel still. Grief doesn’t always come from losing a person. Sometimes it comes from losing versions of yourself that once felt permanent.
This series gave me space to sit with that grief gently. I wanted the images to capture the feeling of looking back with both love and sadness, and to make room for the complicated in-between. Childhood doesn’t vanish. It lingers in habits, relationships, routines, and the way we see the world. Creating this project helped me understand that growing up isn’t about forgetting, but about carrying those earlier parts of myself with more intention.
In the end, Grieving Me is my attempt to honor who I was, who I am now, and everything I’m still learning to let go of. It is a love letter and a farewell at the same time.
This series gave me space to sit with that grief gently. I wanted the images to capture the feeling of looking back with both love and sadness, and to make room for the complicated in-between. Childhood doesn’t vanish. It lingers in habits, relationships, routines, and the way we see the world. Creating this project helped me understand that growing up isn’t about forgetting, but about carrying those earlier parts of myself with more intention.
In the end, Grieving Me is my attempt to honor who I was, who I am now, and everything I’m still learning to let go of. It is a love letter and a farewell at the same time.
