ABSENCE AS FORM is a series of digital images inspired by the shrouded figures recurring in the backgrounds of child portraits made in the early photography studios of the 1840s-1920.

In the making of these images, a loose narrative of “matrescence” materialized.  A term used to describe “the time of mother-becoming,” it encompasses the psychological, social, cultural, spiritual, and existential changes that occur throughout motherhood.
 

 ABSENCE AS FORM follows a shrouded figure’s journey of matrescence: the fragility, fertility, and futility felt in care, femininity, and identity; and a shift towards power.

If the veiled figures of the antique hidden mothers were attempts to obscure presence – to create the illusion of absence – ABSENCE AS FORM gives shape to a void. 

FALL 2024