Leaving things unfinished is a pet peeve of mine, whether it has to do with cleaning the house or finishing my work for the day. However, I’ve also come to accept that no matter how well we plan out our lives — and attempt to execute said plans — there’s no real guarantee of completion or a sense of finality to anything on this earth. Case in point is the story behind Kesselskramer co-founder Erik Kessel’s new photographic project, “Unfinished Father,” which was borne of his own father’s stroke. A passionate restorer of Fiat 500 (Topolino) cars, the elder Kessels was forced to abandon the car he was working on at the time, which his son later transported to Fotografia Europea International Festival and photographed for a new book.

“Last year, my father suffered a stroke and has since been barely able to speak or move. Prior to this, he was extremely active,” Kessel explains. “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 remains at his home. My plan was to transport this last Topolino to Reggio Emilia and show it alongside the images my father made to document his restoration. For me, this work is about a man who — like his vehicle — will never be complete, but remain unfinished. The unfinished Topolino is the reverse of my father’s situation in life: he was a man who didn’t like to leave things undone, who saw them to their end. We can attempt to control our circumstances, but in the end they control us.”