Maman est Là by Julie Scheurweghs

Maman est là is a photographic book by Julie Scheurweghs about motherhood, absence, and care. Through images of her children, it reflects on memory and the quiet invisibility of mothers, redefining the domestic space as political and deeply lived.

Maman est là

Maman est là brings together a deeply personal photographic project by Julie Scheurweghs, exploring motherhood, presence, and the quiet erasures that shape family life. As a photographer and solo parent, Scheurweghs is the constant witness behind the camera, recording the lives of her children while rarely appearing in their images. This absence becomes the core of the work: a reflection on how mothers are physically present yet frequently invisible in the visual history of their own families.

Driven by the loss of her own mother at a young age, Scheurweghs examines the emotional weight of the family photograph—how it preserves, omits, and shapes memory. The book presents images of her children at different ages and in different states of joy, vulnerability, and crisis, moments in which maternal care is felt but not seen. Through these photographs and accompanying text, Maman est là questions the cultural and patriarchal structures that marginalize mothers, redefining the domestic sphere as a site of significance and resistance.

Both intimate and political, Maman est là is a testament to the labor of caregiving, the complexity of maternal identity, and the enduring imprint of a presence that often goes unrecorded.