The work Mom and Me began April 2020. During the lockdown in NYC, I found myself thinking about life, loss, connection and the past. During this time, I was inspired by the work of Lebohang Kganye to use old family photographs and double exposure self portraiture to attempt to seek connection with my mother, who passed when I was 18. Around this same time, I also spent many hours reading, for the first time, many journals from throughout her adult life. These journals spanned from her adventures before she met my father, to a couple years before her passing and many years into her battle with cancer. I began photographing these journals while the double exposure photographs evolved into a moving images where I could move and interact with her for what felt like a longer moment in time. 

There are four steps in the making of this work. Step 1 begins by selecting a photo from a period of my mom’s life that I would like the opportunity to connect with as an adult. Step 2 is the photography session. During the session, I first re-photograph the photo of my mom. Next, I think about how I want to interact with that version of her. I then make a double exposure, photographing myself into the original photograph. I guide myself into several positions, creating multiple images of my adult self interacting with my mother. Step 3, using the double exposures created, I combine the multiple photos into one moving image. In this moving image, my adult self shifts from one position to the next within the frame, creating a living moment of connection between my mom and myself. The final step in this process is the creation of a musical composition to pair with each moving image and to record myself playing these compositions on violin and voice.