mère-fille (ongoing)

mère-fille is an ongoing collaborative project with the artist’s mother that reflects on family dynamics and shifting roles, drawing on 19th c. “hidden mother” photography. It considers photography as both image and object through ceramics and install.

mère-fille (mother-daughter) is an ongoing creative research project that emerged from reflections on aging, shifting roles, and the complexities of reciprocal care within mother–daughter relationships. Drawing on autobiographical experience, it explores care as both a physical and emotional practice, engaging with themes of loss, family, and gender dynamics. Through collaborative image-making with her mother, the artist considers how gesture, performance, and material convey internal emotional states. Influenced by feminist and decolonial thought, particularly Alva Golby’s They Call it Love, care is framed as gendered labour, often invisible and undervalued, even when rooted in love. Referencing 19th-century “hidden mother” photography, where the mother figure is concealed and the gesture of touch emphasized, mère-fille reflects on intimacy and tension within evolving dynamics as roles and responsibilities evolve with time. The embrace becomes a central motif, holding both connection and tension. The work frames care as a form of reciprocal emotional labour, expressed through gestures and moments of both closeness and distance. Here, the act of creating the image becomes as meaningful as the image itself, where care is produced through the image-making process. The project reflects on aging and shifting familial roles, offering space to consider how care and identity evolve over time.