The Y by Alba Zari

A photobook by Thai photographer Alba Zari.

At the age of 25, Zari's brother informed her that they were not of the same Thai descent. For the next two years, fearing that it would upset the delicate balance of her family, she was unsure of what to do with that fact but became uncertain about her own decision. Zari finally sets out to investigate her in search of her identity. Armed with her father's business card, the only clue she found at her grandmother's home, Zari conducted a DNA test, collected available official documents, went to the suspect, and reconstructed a 3D avatar of her father from his own face. A female inherits two X chromosomes, one from each parent. The title of the book refers to her missing father's Y chromosome, which Zari has not inherited. The work is a deeply personal chronicle of Zari's search for identity and the process of embracing a sense of absence through her photographic expression.