Statement:

The emotional labor of motherhood is hidden. The images in Shadow Moms are an effort to visually represent a vulnerability and adverse association with the role of motherhood. These photographs speak to the isolation, monotony, banality, and identity crisis that mothers, including myself, often wrestle with. In this work, I stage mothers in their homes and private spaces, sometimes with their children present. 

From her book “Of Woman Born,” Adrienne Rich states, “Before we were mothers, we have been, first of all, women, with actual bodies and actual minds.” These words helped form the conceptual framework of this project. Maternal experience is valuable, essential, and necessitates visibility. 

Shadow Moms is a project that began in 2019 and is an ongoing series. All of the images in the series were taken with a large format 4 x 5 camera.