for dear life

for dear life is a visual presentation of emotional turbulence that drives a desire for maternal control through photographic record. This work depicts my anxiety with my son’s aging and burgeoning independence.

Motherhood magnifies the severity and fragility of time. As my son rapidly grows into new versions of himself, I beg for time to slow. These photographs are a response to the emotional labor of motherhood in relation to the persistence of time. Staged tableaus depict my neuroses as fictions. Functioning as both document and metaphor, the images reference impermanence, loss, fear, and uncertainty of what lies ahead.

With a mixture of sentiment and anxiety, the control I bring to the image making feels necessary to wrestle with my son’s burgeoning independence. As he continues to age, I attempt to contain him. Time is a thief and photographs become a way to cope.