Dear Father subverts the representation of love between a father and son, and delves to create and explore acceptance through role reversal. While I painted his face, my father and I established a different understanding. He became the performer, while I, with my queerness, long hair, and piercings, became normalised. His exaggerated eyes, hair and makeup turned into a familiar reflection, and I no longer performed. I photographed my father undertaking everyday tasks on the farm in Brazil with the aim of recapturing memories from my childhood. Familiar images of my father tending the farm, riding his motorcycle or slaughtering a sheep are enhanced by his willingness to do so in drag. This engaged and demonstrative person as represented by the father keen to be captured close up in full makeup was, a man I had not recognised before. The project became a meeting point between photographer and photographed, father and son. Having dealt with misunderstanding, haunted by the boy who despised himself for being gay, who didn’t become a farmer or engineer, instead, I was ‘golo’. This project is designed with a direct address to those who misunderstand and label. ‘Golo’ (‘faggot’) from family dialect is a term that taunted me yet now inspires me to create change. In Dear Father, I have escaped this colloquial tag through experimental and intimate exploration of a relationship between my father and me. The project has become a means by which he demonstrates his acceptance of me and his encouragement; a clear message to the perceptions of extended family and friends in Brazil that labelled me. Dear Father has become a cherished microcosmic yet profound message that we are all capable of understanding much more than we realise. My father on a motorbike riding through his farm with the wind flowing through his bouffant hair is a testament to that on so many levels.