One afternoon years ago my grandfather looked over and told me: "I hope you'll never have to live till this age". As a teenager I didn’t know how to react or what to anwser to that, but the tone of his voice and his expression were recorded forever in my mind representing one concept: unhappiness.

Over time, considering my grandfather's comment has led me to challenge my beliefs about old age, death and happiness, and I have come to understand more clearly a position that initially seemed selfish.

Growing old frightens us: our bodies deteriorate, we cannot be as active as we once were and we become more vulnerable to disease. Along with all that, we also think about what follows: the ceasing of our physical existence.

The elders are a reminder of this stage of life that we don't want to think about or accept when we are young. They are evidence that time, aging and death are inevitable.

This series of portraits attempts to challenge the viewer in a similar way; to provoke thought about the finite nature of our lives, and the fear and unhappiness related to that.  The images were shot in a nursing home in La Paz, México, but they reveal expressions and communicate feelings that could be found anywhere in the world. Location is irrelevant, what matters is the fact that these lives exist but they are commonly tucked away out of sight, voices ignored.