the mother
In the Tierney Gearo documentary the question of “what is family and how do we treat them?” came to me several times. In the film she spends a large amount of time with her mother. She photographing, talking, fighting, with her mother recalls what it was like when she was growing up and trying to recapture her feelings and “lost” childhood. Mean while she has a similar relationship with her children as she did with her mother. The main difference being the different social norms that each one chose not to fallow. In the end I look at the documentary and say wow these are some stunning photographs but at what cost. My feelings about the work is tinted with a deep sadness for this women trying to recapture something that she feel she missed out on or lost by involving other people. I often think about why I produce the work I produce and how it will affect the people around me and I have stayed away from photographs that are personally tolling not just for me but the people I care about. I have the ability to ask people to keep things private but children and people that don’t have all of there faculties may not. I highly avocation for self examination through art but I can’t say that I support this self exploration throw people that don’t have the ability to say no.
