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ioana 📸

@e.wah.na

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photographer & writer
fragments of light, memory and longing

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Happy birthday, my love.

With the occasion of your birthday, I wanted to share some stills from ‘How the Light shines in’; a project which, in many ways, has you at the centre of it. You have given me a love so secure, within which, I could change, and know, that when I come out the other side, I will still be loved. Photographing you changed the way I look through the lens. Your warmth and gentleness transcended into my images, and it never left. As I type this, you’re sleeping next to me, with Maple purring in between us. I hope you don’t wake up before I finish writing. Thank you for always supporting me, listening to my words long before they make sense, feeding me when I’m lost in editing for hours on end, and taking care of me, when I, often, forget to.

Happy birthday @nph1710 🩵 I don’t know what I would do without you. by @e.wah.na

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3 days ago

Study of Mama, in the Hallway | July 2026

from ‘O, Doină, de dor’

One thing that has become increasingly important for my mum is her connection with her religion and spirituality. At the beginning, I was worried, as my relationship with religion was always a tough and painful one. I cannot say I understand it, but seeing her happy, seeing her have something that brings her peace, no matter what that is - it doesn’t matter wether I understand, her happiness makes it worth it. by @e.wah.na

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7 days ago

Rituals I & II | July 2026

from ‘O, Doină, de dor’ by @e.wah.na

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5 days ago

My beautiful Mămi 🌺 | July 2026

from ‘O, Doină, de dor’

It has been a cathartic experience to realise how much i look like my grandma. It has made it easier to see myself as beautiful, because I see her, peeking through the mirror. My beautiful, confident Doina. If only I could take our sadness away. by @e.wah.na

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20 days ago

Ioana Sandu is a Romanian photographer born in Botoșani, Romania, and based in South Yorkshire, England. Her practice is rooted in themes of memory, childhood, navigating trauma and connection. She uses photography as a means of self-reflection, of making visible what is often hidden, and of understanding the world around her.

“In Romanian, “dor” is the ache that sits between love and absence. My grandfather wanted to protect us from it. He imagined a future where we would never be haunted by dor for too long. He built a house to hold us together for generations. That future was not ours to keep. We called it “The Big House”. The Big House is a labyrinth of concrete and memories, where my grandparents raised me while my mother worked abroad. Love lived there, but so did longing. One by one, necessity scattered us beyond its walls. We crossed countries and continents in search of a better life, with dor running through our veins. What was meant to hold us together became a monument to the distance between us. In my absence, mould crept over the walls I used to draw on. Time carved itself into the hands that raised me. The garden swing I used to float on, now rusted and still, waits for a child that has long since grown.“

“Doina” is a traditional song that embodies dor. It is also my grandmother’s name. The tragedy is that her name became her fate. She longs for her children, and for the laughter that once filled the Big House. And like echoes beyond its walls, we long for her. I long for the smell of her coffee in the morning. I long for him scolding me for not eating enough. I long for a time when a phone call did not replace an embrace. These photographs are the doină of my family.”

PEOPLE - Photography by
Ioana Sandu @e.wah.na

“Lacrima.” 2026

“Tati’s Birthday.” 2026

“Esi.” 2026

Price: £150 (per item)

#carlottagallery taken in Romania by @e.wah.na

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9 days ago

Study of Tăti, in the Blue Room | July 2026

from ‘O, Doină, de dor’

As he ages, spending time with tăti is often constrained to his room, eating fruit, following the sun travel through the walls, watching the news, football, or a Turkish telenovela that he gets very invested in. Doing these things together sends me back to my 5 year old self, watching the football with my Tăti, not understanding anything, but still cheering whenever he did. There is nothing that I treasure more than these moments. by @e.wah.na

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13 days ago

Watermelon, at the Big House 🍉 | June 2025

Fruit is such a big part of life at the Big House; my grandad always makes sure to get the sweetest, crunchiest watermelon he can find. There is never a lack of fruit, and refusing it is not an option. Oh, to be sat in the fresh air, sticky hands from the juice of watermelon, belly full to the brim, and tăti goes ‘hai tată, mai mănâncă, te roagă tata’.

How could ever I say no? by @e.wah.na

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21 days ago

O, Doină, de dor by Ioana Sandu

My latest work provides an insight into my childhood, revisiting my childhood home in Romania, now old and decaying, but still inhabited by my grandparents.

Photography allows me to confront what I have avoided, transforming unease into reflection. I work with intimate portraits, landscapes within the home, reflective writing and family archives, prioritising tenderness and connection while situating personal stories within wider social realities.

In Romanian, dor is the ache that sits between love and absence.

My grandfather wanted to protect us from it. He imagined a future where we would never be haunted by dor for too long. He built a house to hold us together for generations. That future was not ours to keep.

We called it ‘The Big House’.

The Big House is a labyrinth of concrete and memories, where my grandparents raised me while my mother worked abroad.

Love lived there, but so did longing.

One by one, necessity scattered us beyond its walls. We crossed countries and continents in search of a better life, carrying dor with us wherever we landed. What was meant to hold us together became a monument to the distance between us.

In my absence, mould crept over the walls I used to draw on. Time carved itself into the hands that raised me. The garden swing I used to float on, now rusted and still, waits for a child that has long since grown.

‘Doina’ is a traditional song that embodies dor. It is also my grandmother’s name. The tragedy is that her name became her fate. She longs for her children, and for the laughter that once filled the Big House. And like echoes beyond its walls, we long for her

I long for the smell of her coffee in the morning. I long for him scolding me for not eating enough. I long for a time when a phone call did not replace an embrace.

These photographs are the doină of my family."

@e.wah.na by @e.wah.na

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a month ago

Meals with the Family | April/July 2026

No better food than my Mămi’s; I miss it more each day.

from ‘O, Doină, de dor’ 2026 by @e.wah.na

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a month ago

Tăti, in front of the winter firewood | July 2026

from ‘O, Doină, de dor’ by @e.wah.na

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a month ago

plastic flowers in the cold hallway, carnations on the hot furnace;
little ways that my grandma brings beauty indoors.

from ‘O, Doină, de dor’ 2026 by @e.wah.na

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a month ago

Mămi - snippets from ‘The Big House // Casa Mare’ 2025

My beautiful grandmother: Doina.

We all call her Mămi.

Though she is my grandmother, she has always been my second mother - and the matriarch of our family.
She is a mother to me and my sister. A mother to her own five children. And, in many ways, she was a mother to her four younger siblings.

She has spent her life caring for others, from far too young an age.

Doina is beautiful and particular, caring and fiercely herself. A perfectionist with an eye for detail. Although she can be serious at times, she has a talent for saying the most out of pocket things, leaving the room bursting into laughter.
She loves music and dancing without a care for what anyone thinks. She always has the latest fashions, and even now, when she lets us granddaughters rummage through her clothes, we find the most beautiful vintage pieces tucked away. Also, she has the most beautiful set of nails that I have always been jealous of (looks down at own nails that break if I breathe wrong).

My grandma is the OG baddie, and she always will be.

She is Doina. And she is Mămi. by @e.wah.na

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2 months ago