‘all the things we do not finish’

Motherhood is complicated.

It is the slowest journey that passes by in the quickest time. Like many women I have spoken to in my research, I find myself wanting to speed it up and hold it still every single day.

I recently completed my MFA in photography. As I worked through the degree, my researched centred on motherhood and the challenges to our identity that follow.

The pressure many mothers feel to be the one who documents family life.

How many mothers would love to have more photographs of themselves and their children that are not selfies.
The way many mothers often take unposed, unstaged photography of their children with other family members, but they would also like to have these times captured of themselves, without having to ask.

MY research is focused on…

The curiosity many mothers have about how ‘it’ looks from the outside. The way they interact with their children, how they share their lives together.
The fear many mothers have of seeing themselves in photography. The changes in their bodies, aging, being sensitive to their perceived flaws.
The challenges around authenticity and photography, and whether having to request a photograph is taken changes the value of that shot.

For me, photography is entirely about connection. It’s who you really are, when you have the space to be yourself.

catch the inbetweens

The combination of my research, being a mum and my interest in maternal mental health has come together to mean I’m hugely passionate about finding ways to lift the mental load for mums.

As a photographer, I see the impact of campaigning to ensure mums are fully represented in their ever changing family albums. My research led me to challenge how this looks and to dig well outside my initial way of thinking, but ultimately I believe mums should be present in imagery with their children, in whatever way then can be.

This may be as new mums, however your child has joined your family. It may also be thinking about your own mum and how she continues to be included as time passes. Professionally, nothing gives me more joy than taking a mother an image that she loves.

‘All the things we do not finish’ is a project that talks of women and their lives.

Motherhood, however it comes about, is hard. It can be full of shared experience but also passing comparisons. There will always be a different perspective.

‘All the things we do not finish’ is the story of my research into how motherhood is captured in photography, and how we can tackle the barriers to mothers appearing more actively in their family imagery. It tells of the challenges I faced when working on this in an academic context and how the final project did not end the way I expected.

‘All the things we do not finish’ is my contribution to the way motherhood is presented and a reaction to the depictions of motherhood I have observed in my research over the past months. It grapples with the identity struggles of a mother, as she tries to keep any part of herself whilst dedicating the very most of her to raising her children.

Read my final MFA report here