mountainESS series

For five years our second cousins, known as the girls next door, played as princesses outside in our redwood tree mountain yard almost every day. My kids seamlessly jumped into these outdoor princess playtime scenarios. I observed in the outdoor play setups, a freedom of exploration, adventure, and self-determination (dirt and tiaras), ultimately something much more interesting than my definition of princess perfection. In this series, I contrast the idea of the collective perfect Disney princess with my ‘mountainESS series’ photographs, including images of the children’s imperfect, yet perfect mud-pie creations. As a mature woman, the princess-themes to me represented being perfect, looking perfect, and acting perfectly, striving for a fairytale life – and an identity that pleased. In creating this work, I questioned children’s play and how scripted and unscripted tales for life relate to the way that we as adults define how we are supposed to live our lives.