Chloe - Little did I know ...

Little did I know when I took this picture at Bondi Beach in Sydney. A friend kindly brought an article to my attention on which this post is based upon. The following story is very touching and sad. Unfortunately its subject matter has made the news again; I am referring to the latest Bali Bombings from 1 October 2005.
The mural represents an “emotional work of art” which helps a grieving father to deal with the death of his 15-year-old daughter, Chloe Byron; she died in the Bali Bombings in October 2002. The picture of Chloe is one of many murals which can be found along the boardwalk of Bondi Beach. The idea for the mural came from Chloe’s father, David, who looked at the other pictures and thought that “it would be nice to have a picture of Chloe” at their favourite surf break. He approached the council and got on to an artist and the result can be seen in the picture I took. David taught his daughter how to surf when she was eight years old. He said that he feels “she is still surfing beside him”. When David is out in the water on Bondi Beach he can look to the sand and see the mural of his daughter. A flower prettifies her hair; when she surfed she wore a flower in her hair. As a committed father David renews the flowers by the mural every day and apparently tells his daughter about the surf that day.

The story about Chloe and my taking of the picture is an interesting “coincidence of life”, at least for me. When I took the picture I did not know any of the above. Yet, somehow I did feel the sadness evolving from the mural and I can clearly remember thinking if it was “just” a piece of art or if it had a deeper meaning. There was something about Chloe’s face lighting up the rather dull day and which inspired me to capture it on film. It is interesting how life sometimes explains itself at a later stage. Now that I know the background of the mural, it makes me appreciate my picture even more.

Sebastian