Unfinished Father

Some years ago, my father suffered a stroke and could barely speak or move. Prior to this, he was extremely active. His projects included restoring examples of that Italian icon: the Fiat 500 (or “Topolino”.) Before his stroke, he’d completed four such restorations and was working on a fifth, the half-finished carapace of which was left abandoned at his home. 

This car came to represent Erik’s unfinished father and forms the basis of this project. Erik transported his dad’s last Topolino to Reggio Emilia and presented it alongside intimately detailed images his father made to document its restoration. This work is about a man who — like his vehicle — will never be complete, but will remain forever interrupted. The unfinished Topolino is the reverse of his father’s situation in life: he is a man who doesn’t like to leave things undone. We can attempt to control our circumstances, but in the final analysis they control us.