Mother of All
I remember sitting at the dining table with TK, just before the turn of winter to spring. I was sharing some early ideas for a photo composition, and then an hour later, we found ourselves immersed in a collaborative idea that brought together some of our favorite examples of art and storytelling into our own grandiose visual narrative.
After weeks of wardrobe and prop planning, shifted dining room furniture, painter’s tape on the walls and floor (marking each spot), waking up with the sun for a photoshoot, and furiously editing into the dead of night, the piece fell together.
Our story came to life.
This is “Mother of All”.
Mother of All
Mother of All imagines the cycles of life, death and rebirth as a Shakespearean drama—with a modern twist.
Inspired by the goddesses and mystical beings of Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera and The Birth of Venus – as well as the composite imagery of modern photographer and artist Jamie Beck – the series explores the symbol of Mother Nature as five distinct archetypes. There is Fertility, who digs into the Earth for the raw material of existence; the Nurturer, who provides and cultivates growth; the Protector, who fiercely guards her charge; and the devilish Destroyer, who deploys subterfuge and violence to pull life out by the roots. At the center of this cast is the Mother of All herself, who cradles life in her hands. While some of these characters are collaborators, and others appear to be enemies, each one plays an essential role in the drama. The story of life would not be complete without them.
Experimenting with themes of feminism and ecology, Mother of All challenges the notion of the unified self and, hopefully, buries the stereotype of a purely benevolent or malevolent Mother Nature under a thick layer of topsoil.
“Mother of All” was a collaboration between myself and Troy Kelleher. I photographed, modeled for all images and edited, while TK assisted with photography and creative direction. This piece was photographed over the course of three days using the Sony a7iii.