Mono Parents, since 2021

For the photographic series ‘Mono-Parents’, I have been photographing single-parent families since 2021. These are single-parent families where the father or mother is absent. Mono comes from the Greek and means: only or alone. In French, single parents are called ‘monoparental’.

The Ministry for Family Affairs writes: ‘In Germany, there are more than eight million families with underage children. Of these, 18 per cent are single parents, i.e. mothers or fathers who live alone with their children in the household. Between 1996 and 2021, the number of single parents with underage children rose from 1.3 million to just under 1.5 million. Of the approximately 13 million children under the age of 18, 18 per cent now live with one parent in the household. In nine out of ten cases, this is the mother.’

These are families in which one parent is solely responsible for the care, education and upbringing of the children, rather than the alternating model. Most of the families photographed live in the city of Leipzig, where I also live and work with my 6-year-old son.

With my pictures, I show a family model that is still not considered socially acceptable, in which parents often receive little support and understanding, and which many people in our society do not recognise as a family model. Being a single parent often means a great challenge for children and parents, often a life in precarious circumstances and a double burden for the single parent. Nevertheless, I perceive the families I photograph as strong, independent, reflective and self-confident.