Artist statement
To the Ends of the Earth, 2012 – ongoing:
This series depicts me, my girlfriend and my mother, and the often unseen dynamics between a lesbian, her mother and her girlfriend. As a lesbian I am a multifaceted person – including a daughter. I make this work to discuss another layer of the lesbian experience which is always shifting and permeates into every facet of one’s life. The series is often read from a heteronormative perspective (as we are trained to view all things) as if we are all straight women, therefore further misrepresenting and misunderstanding the lesbian gaze and experience.
I am also interested in physical and psychological boundaries that are formed between adult children and our parents. Certain behaviors or activities, and physical closeness are no longer seen as acceptable, and can even feel weird. I am curious about those moments of tension and ‘taboo’ to raise the question as to why these feelings arise, and what makes them so uncomfortable?
Some of the images are more straight forward portraits, while others are layered and fragmented which creates my own world for the viewer to enter. Being a lesbian means that I am often ‘othered’ and underrepresented; living in a heteronormative society it can be hard to imagine my past, present and future without much example. So these ‘worlds’ act as places I would want to be real; interactions that could happen in a future where no one needs to hide their sexuality. The ‘activities’ we are doing in some images speak to the way women are socialized to be intimate with one another, both physically and emotionally, through caretaking and other interactions which walks a fine line between desire, tension and intimacy.
The work is also about seeing my mother as the person she is, not just as a mother. Hinting at the sexism rampant in the ideas of motherhood and expectations on women, and their children, I display my mother’s sensuality, her aging body and journey through menopause, as well as our intimacy to raise questions as to why mothers and motherhood is in constant attack. To call out the deeply rooted sexism in why mother and daughter intimacy is labeled as perverse. I show my mother and look at her as a whole person.