Carolyn

Carolyn is a collection of forty-two portraits of my mother taken during the last three years of her life, culminating in her 100th birthday. Suffering from Dementia for the last four years of her life, my mother possessed extraordinary beauty and an impressive will to live. My motive in making these portraits was to celebrate the light that shone as I caught poignant glimpses of her day-to-day struggles and frustrations in contrast with occasional displays of childlike pleasure. My mother died on Mother’s Day 2014, four months after her 100th birthday. My goal with this body of work is to honor the life, strength and courage of all elderly people who struggle through their waning years with dignity, beauty and grace. Considering my mother’s delicate state, I took each portrait with an iPhone, to minimize the invasive nature of working in such close personal space. My mother had been the willing subject of my photographs for the past twenty years, and I believe that it was important, for both of us, that her participation in my creative process continued. The central theme of my photographic work always has brought together the topics of family, the passage of time and generations and the cycles of life. Carolyn is the next step in my continuing exploration of these topics.