Jeanette Spicer initially began the project in 2012 when working towards her thesis and was interested in the boundaries and rules—particularly from a western perspective—of the interactions between children and their adult parents. She began to stage photographs and videos interacting with her mother in strange, intimate, disturbing and sometimes humorous ways. A few years later, it became clear to her that she was a lesbian, inspiring her to make the work from another perspective. Spicer felt that visual representations of lesbians interacting with straight parents were missing and she wanted to show what this relationship could look like.
‘As a lesbian I am many things. I’m a daughter, a lover, a worker, a sexual person and there are many facets to everyone’s lives. It was important to me to show that as a lesbian, I have a multifaceted view of the world…. The tension, lust and physical and psychological boundaries in this work are
continuously navigated over the years, and renegotiated, as my mother and I continue to step into new phases of our lives, together.’
Spicer began to. include her partner into the work so that this element of her identity could be included. The photographs show Spicer, her mother and partner undertaking feminine activities such as bathing, putting together puzzles, painting toenails and braiding hair. Spicer uses cropping and fragmentation in the images—deploying shadow and light, unusual perspectives and flesh—creating an ambiguity so the viewer is often unsure as to what they are witnessing. The series is often read from a heteronormative perspective—as if Spicer’s mother, partner and Spicer herself are all straight women—mispresenting the lesbian experience.
‘Some of the scenes implied by these pictures are deeply weird: they may have been uncomfortable to execute, and they are certainly awkward to look at. Their emotional residue trickles out of the space opened up between the bodily enactment of complex relationships and the understanding that their traces will be looked at afterwards. Within that space, I find bravery, psychology, love and a deep understanding of how much more radicality and passion are possible in the representation of women’s bodies than what we have seen so far.’ - Marina Berio
